CAMPAIGNERS fighting to keep a threatened doctors’ surgery open are urging patients to boycott part of a questionnaire on the topic.

A committee set up to try and save the Locks Road Branch Surgery have branded the survey a ‘betrayal’ – because it offers three options to patients, none of which include the chance to keep the GP practice open.

Surgery bosses, Dr Whitaker and Partners, announced earlier this year they planned to merge the surgery with their Whiteley practice, closing the Locks Heath premises.

Patient group Hampshire LINk is now running a consultation on the future of GP services in the area – with three options which NHS Hampshire have put forward for those patients who will be left without a doctors’ surgery.

The options included on the survey are for patients to move to the Whiteley practice, extending Brook Lane Surgery or establishing a GP service in Fareham Community Hospital.

But the Doctor’s Corner Patient Group, who have already gathered a petition with 3,983 signatures against the closure, are now distributing a leaflet urging residents to put a line through the options on the survey.

They say patients should instead demand in the comments box that a new GP practice is built in Locks Heath, or the existing surgery is kept open.

Chairman of the group, Martin Reeve, said: “The whole thing is misleading.

“A lot of people are very worried that they’re not being given better choices, that they’re being funnelled down this road.

“We think there are other options – keeping Locks Road open or getting a new surgery in Locks Heath.”

But NHS Hampshire has insisted that keeping the surgery open is not viable.

Medical Director, Dr Stuart Ward, said: “This summer a review of all NHS estate in the Locks Heath area confirmed issues with the Locks Road Branch Surgery building.

“It concluded it would be more economical to demolish the existing structure and reconstruct a purpose-built surgery to meet the needs of the local population.

“But it was recognised the current site may be too small for a new surgery which would meet legal regulations for NHS buildings.”

To request a copy of the survey, write to Hampshire LINk, Forum 3, Solent Business Park, Whiteley, PO15 7FH or call 01489 611675.

The deadline for comments is Monday, December 5.