DOCTORS and surgeries are on the 'brink of collapse' after Oxfordshire lost out on millions of pounds in extra funding to protect the future of GP practices.

Experts have warned that the system is at the '11th hour' amid increased pressure and a lack of funding.

It comes as the county's health bosses were granted £2m of the £50m they asked for to expand and maintain surgeries.

Retired partner at Abingdon Surgery and Oxfordshire Local Medical Committee Chairman Dr Prit Buttar said last night that the crisis would worsen.

He added: "We are not drinking at the last chance saloon anymore, it is time to pay the barman.

"The dominoes are lined up and we are going to fall, we are on the brink of collapse.

"General practice has been abused by cynical politicians in their quest for a few headlines.

"I cannot help but think that it is only when general practice has gone and it has been replaced by a more expensive and less efficient system that people will realise what they have lost out on."

In a scathing letter, seen by the Oxford Mail, the chairwoman of the county council's health overview committee expressed 'grave concerns' over the lack of money.

The county's health body, the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, applied to NHS England for funding to expand and maintain 21 surgeries including some in Oxford city centre.

But it was only given £2m to be spent on seven GP practices including Malthouse surgery in Abingdon, Deddington Health Centre and Hightown surgery in the Longford Park development, in Banbury.

In the letter to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Oxfordshire County Councillor Yvonne Constance urges him to 'review the level of funding' for primary care and general practice.

She says that the problems have led to the closure of several practices in the county which has had a 'detrimental impact' and increases pressure on other surgeries.

She wrote: "In addition, the CCG is hampered by the lack of funding from NHS England to invest in the expansion and development of GP premises.

"Because of this, a planned expansion of the Wantage Health Centre has been denied just as 5,000 new homes are being built nearby, bringing an extra 12,000 residents to the local area in need of GP services."

Dr Matthew Cheetham, who has been a partner at Summertown Health Centre for more than 10 years, said funding was vital to help safeguard the future of general practice.

He said: "In the last 10 years primary care has been allocated just 7.9 per cent of the overall NHS budget even though general practice and primary care is responsible for 90 per cent of patient contact, this is a huge mismatch.

"If we were to receive more of that budget we could do so much more for patients.

"We will be able to have better buildings, ours for example used to be an old school and it really is not fit for purpose for the 21st century, we are bursting at the seams.

"If we had more staff and more space we could offer more appointments and ease the burden on A&E departments."

The CCG would not disclose the names of the 14 surgeries that lost out on funding.

Clinical Chairman of the CCG, Dr Joe McManners, said it was disappointing more money was not allocated for Oxfordshire.

He added: "I do not want patients to worry that the unsuccessful bids will mean that the surgeries cannot operate.

"These bids were to look to the future of the surgeries, some were for brand new facilities and others were for expansions to help with the growing population across the county.

"There is another round of funding next year which we will apply for and in the meantime we will be speaking to developers about securing section 106 money to help improve facilities."

NHS England said Oxfordshire CCG's 21 bids were were considered along with 110 bids by other CCGs in the South Central area.

A spokesman added: "Due to the number of bids, NHS England contacted Oxfordshire CCG and asked them to review and re-affirm the list of priority schemes further.

"With the CCG's assistance we considered the schemes in terms of matching the fund's investment criteria, transformational impact, strategic fit and affordability and deliverability.

"Inevitably the outcome was disappointing for a number of unsuccessful CCGs and practices in the South Central area."

The Department of Health has acknowledged the committee's letter and said it would respond in full in due course.