MANAGEMENT changes at an overstretched GP practice could lead to ‘chaos’ over the winter months, health campaigners have warned.

A letter has been sent to 6,500 patients at Kennington Health Centre saying GPs have ‘reluctantly’ terminated their contract with Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

It states that despite working ‘extremely hard’ to meet the high workload doctors now want someone else to step in on the administration side.

Dr Rosamond Hall, a GP partner at the surgery, said: “GPs want to continue to provide medical care to patients without having to run the business side of the practice.

“This would enable the GPs to concentrate on providing clinical work while the administrative and business roles were undertaken by another provider.”

The announcement has led to unease among local patients as well as county-wide campaigners.

Dr Ken Williamson, chair of Oxfordshire Keep Our NHS Public, said the centre could face ‘disorganisation’ and even become ‘another Deer Park’.

The surgery in Witney, which was run by private provider Virgin Care, announced it will close on March 31 this year.

He said: “This is a standard general medical services [GMS] contract. If they want to hand it back, what are they left with?

“If they’re going down the private route we have the example of what happened when Virgin took over Deer Park. There was chaos.

“It’s a perfect storm for the NHS at the moment. There’s a shortage of about 12,000 GPs. It’s possible there will be more like this.”

Parish councillor Alan Cobb, who is registered at the practice, said the service was very busy and would get worse when 550 new homes are built in Radley.

He added: “To an extent I think there should be a consultation. Really, it’s the first rung of privatisation; no company is going to come in if they’re not going to get a return.”

The CCG is currently looking at a range of options including asking nearby practices to step in to help deliver services in Kennington.

Dr Hall added: “We have written to patients to reassure them it will be business as usual at the surgery,.

OCCG and the GPs have met with the surgery’s patient participation group to inform them of the situation.