A Hampshire GP surgery fears it will be unable to cope with a new influx of patients as construction for 6,000 homes begins.

The £308m Welborne development near Fareham has created a “worrying situation” for Wickham Surgery.

The Houghton Way practice has agreed to provide healthcare for the first 690 homes, covering the initial five years of the development.

However, its request to redraw its boundary to exclude the entire development has been rejected.  

A public notice said: “To safeguard future patient services, those in the initial 690 homes must continue to receive primary care at Wickham Surgery.

“The only way to achieve this is to redraw the Wickham Surgery Practice boundary to reflect the above plan.

“However, the application for this boundary change was rejected by the Integrated Care Board's Primary Care Commissioning Committee in November.

“This surprising decision has left the entirety of the Welborne development within the Wickham Practice Boundary, creating an untenable and worrying situation that the Surgery clearly cannot accommodate.” 

Building work on 1,000 acres of open land near the village of Knowle has already begun.

Daily Echo: Kayleigh Rooke has lived in Knowle for five years Kayleigh Rooke has lived in Knowle for five years (Image: Submitted)

Resident Kayleigh Rooke, 35, said: “This development is going to cripple the local surgery. We are already finding it difficult to get an appointment.

“A development of that size needs to have sufficient infrastructure and many residents do not feel Welborne does at this time.

“I am in full support of a boundary change for the surgery so that it would not become impossible for current, and future residents, to see a GP.”

In response to the Wickham Surgery's notice, a spokesperson from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board said: “Patient care and ensuring everyone has access to local primary care is our priority.

“We are working closely with local stakeholders regarding the Welborne Garden Village development.

“The decision of the committee was to neither approve nor decline the application for Wickham Surgery’s boundary change.

“The committee would welcome the opportunity to consider a fresh boundary change application from Wickham Surgery in the future.”