HEALTH bosses could relocate and expand a Witney doctor’s surgery – but campaigners don not think it will help avoid a looming crisis.

A plan for healthcare provision in and around Witney will be published tomorrow, with Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s (OCCG) draft including proposals to move and expand either the Nuffield Health Centre or Cogges Surgery.

With a population rise of thousands expected over the next decade, campaigners have warned that a bigger solution – in the form of a new doctor’s surgery – is the only option.

Spokeswoman for the OCCG Josephine Wilkes this week told the Witney Gazette: “Witney, Eynsham and Carterton are projected to grow significantly in size over the coming years.

"OCCG needs to support the development of GP services to meet the needs of this growing population.

“The suggestion to relocate and expand Nuffield Health Centre and/or Cogges Surgery within Witney appears to be a feasible way of providing space to care for an increased population in Witney.

“OCCG is also continuing discussions with practices caring for Carterton residents about the best options to meet growth.

"We have not yet identified preferred sites or dates. Similarly, we continue to work with Eynsham Medical Group to support sufficient GP services are in place to meet the needs in that area.”

In July last year an independent panel of experts exploring the closure of Deer Park Medical Centre demanded OCCG immediately commission a six-month project to develop a comprehensive plan for primary care and related services.

The report which demanded the plan was the result of an assessment by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) ordered by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

In its report, the IRP said OCCG did not do enough to engage with patients before Deer Park was closed and demanded it create a comprehensive plan for care in Witney.

Now, with the plan set for publication tomorrow, campaigners have expressed concerns that some proposals in the draft, primarily the relocation of one Witney doctor’s surgery, will not be enough to deal with the population growth.

Campaigner, town councillor and former chairwoman of Deer Park Medical Centre’s Patient Participation Group, Brenda Churchill, said she understands that it is the Nuffield Health Centre in Welch Way that will face relocation.

She said: “We don’t know where it’s relocating. And it isn’t going to give the town extra doctors or any extra appointments.

“They’re building houses at Downs Road [the start of a 1,000-home development in west Witney] now and moving a surgery, no matter how hard you try, will take two or three years.

"Where are the people in those houses going to go in the meantime?

“We’ve put forward the suggestion of extending the building at Deer Park.

"The way things are going we’re going to need another surgery in the west.”

Mrs Churchill, who concluded there was nothing she had seen in the plan that would solve the problem, also raised fears that OCCG was failing to engage properly with the public.

She continued: “I feel like we need to let people in the town know. They should be consulted now, not later on.

“People in Witney and patients at these surgeries need to know about the planned relocation because they’ve buried it in the middle of their draft plan.”

Other proposals in the draft plan include a review of the use of space in Windrush Health Centre and Witney Community Hospital to boost joint-working.

This is looking towards an Urgent Treatment Centre type model.

Long Hanborough Surgery could be also replaced, Cogges Surgery could see a minor improvement to clinical capacity and Eynsham Medical Centre may be extended.

There may also be an expansion of Broadshires Health Centre, in Carterton, or redevelopment of Carterton Health Centre.