A petition launched by a local councillor to save a Perthshire village GP from closure has reached 566 signatures.
The public application was presented to the chief officer of Health and Social Care at Perth and Kinross Council on Tuesday and will be forwarded to NHS Tayside leaders.
It comes after stunned Invergowrie Medical Practice patients were told in February the health facility would shut permanently on June 16.
An inability to recruit following retirements at both the Ancrum and Invergowrie practices has now left a single GP managing both practices.
That GP did not feel that this was safe or sustainable, so they chose to resign from the Invergowrie contract.
The announcement of the closure was met with concern from patients and local politicians, with Perthshire North MSP John Swinney “deeply disappointed”.
But the village is fighting back with Carse of Gowrie councillor Alasdair Bailey’s petition successfully galvanizing local support to keep the practice open.
He pointed out a lack of adequate direct bus routes to the other nearest GPs, such as Errol 10 miles away, and better accessibility for surrounding elderly residents as key reasons for it to remain.
“Having over 550 signatures really shows the strength of feeling in Invergowrie and round-abouts about the need to keep GP provision close to people’s homes,” he said.
“When gathering the signatures I heard from so many people who are worried about having to travel further afield for medical care and when you take Invergowrie and Longforgan into account, there really are enough people to warrant a GP presence in the direct area.
“I was very grateful to the chief officer of Health and Social Care at PKC for receiving the petition and I came away with the impression that real effort is going into solving this problem.”
The council Bailie believes that NHS Tayside should take over direct operation of the practice instead of leasing it to an independent physicians.
Lochee and Maryfield practices in Dundee and Abbey and Brechin practices in Angus are run directly by NHS Tayside.
Surgeries in Bridge of Earn and Blair Atholl are the highest profile closures in Perthshire in recent years with no intervention forthcoming to save them.
Cllr Bailey has contacted NHS Tayside chair Lorna Brise-Stewart for availability to hand over the petition to her in person.
He added: “My next stage is to present the petition to NHS Tayside who are ultimately the ones who decide where GP services are offered from.
“I’ve written to their chief executive and chair and will welcome the opportunity to also share the petition with them and also to answer any questions they have about the needs of people in Invergowrie.
“Thank you to everyone who showed their support by signing the petition and I’ll keep on touring around the powers-that-be on your behalf until we have a resolution that keep the GP provision in the village.”
The NHS taking over operations is one of five options currently being considered by a new group comprising NHS Tayside senior members and Perth and Kinross and Dundee health and social care partnerships.
The four other options include another GP practice taking over the practice contract, merging with another independent practice, merging with one of the two Dundee practices already operated directly by NHS Tayside and closing the practice before dispersing patients to other GPs.
The outcome of the options appraisal will be presented to Perth and Kinross and Dundee IJBs.
As practice contracts are held at Health Board level, the final decision on the option(s) to be taken forward will be made by NHS Tayside.
The practice will remain operational until the proposed closure date in June.
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