BORDON is set to lose a GP surgery as a national shortage of doctors impacts local communities.

In January, recruitment problems triggered Woolmer Surgery, on Forest Road, to announce a reduction in opening hours.

This was said to be a temporary solution, but now the decision has been made to close the surgery, following the forthcoming departure of a second GP in five months. Woolmer Surgery, which has been closed for three afternoons a week since February, is a branch of the Riverside Practice in Liss, to where all clinics are set to be permanently transferred.

Clinics will continue to operate at Woolmer on four mornings a week until the building is sold and closed.

The NHS South Eastern Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group has written to inform all Woolmer patients that they can transfer, with the practice partner Dr Charles Dawson, to the Riverside in Liss, or register with one of the two other practices in Whitehill and Bordon - the Forest and Pinehill surgeries.

The news that a second GP is to leave the Woolmer Surgery has placed an “impossible strain” on the remaining three doctors to continue to operate from both sites.

In a message to patients, Dr Dawson said he had been left with no choice but to make the “personally upsetting” decision to ultimately close Woolmer.

“As most of you know, I have been a GP both here in Bordon and in Liss for 16 years and have grown to know many of you and your families well over this time,” he said.

“I would like to personally invite those of you who are able to travel to Liss, to remain registered with the practice. I do appreciate that for some this is not a viable option. I will be incredibly sad to leave, and if there was any other way for me to stay and look after my patients in Bordon, out of the Woolmer Surgery, please be assured, I would.”

Whitehill Town Council leader Adam Carew has family ties to the practice and said it was a shame to see it go. “I am deeply saddened to read of Dr Dawson’s decision to close Woolmer Surgery after all these years of providing a first-rate service to our community,” he said.

“My mother was practice manager here and at Liss for many years and Woolmer Surgery’s closure marks and end of an era.

“Charles is a first-rate GP and I know he has not taken this decision lightly. There is a national shortage of GPs, and it seems this had a major impact on Dr Dawson’s difficult decision to close Woolmer Surgery.

“Those who want to stay with the practice will migrate to the Riverside Kelsey Surgery in Liss, however, convenience and public transport may well be an issue for many patients, especially the elderly, and some patients may well decide to re register with one of the two other surgeries in town.

“The model of GP practice is changing - family practices are expected to decline and larger medical centres run by companies with multiple doctors and nurses open 24/7 are supposed to be the future.

“I suspect for most patients, especially the elderly and long-term sick, the link to a specific trusted GP will remain a top priority.

“Moving forward it is essential that Whitehill and Bordon’s health provision increases as our population expands. Our town’s future health needs are being looked at in great detail as part of the proposed new health campus and, like many, I hope our new accolade as one of the Government’s 10 healthy new towns will ensure Whitehill and Bordon realises its vision as an innovative centre of medical excellence.”

Until the sale of the building, Woolmer will open from 8am to 1pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.