A GP surgery in Banbury with 18,000 patients on its books has insisted it will still be 'business as usual' despite a part-closure and ongoing staff shortages.

Partners at Horsefair Surgery told patients this month that they had given notice to NHS England to terminate their contract to provide general medical services.

Since then negotiations have begun with a private firm to alleviate the recruitment pressure and help with the running of the surgery.

A statement issued last week by the practice said: "Over the last two weeks we have been exploring the possibility of entering a partnership with a commercial company.

"Given that we have identified and are negotiating with a new provider, Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group has agreed that we can retain our contract and retract our notice. It will be business as usual at the surgery and there will be no break in the services that patients receive."

On Monday, October 3 the Horsefair Surgery branch in Middleton Cheney closed its doors and was placed on the market.

A volunteer driver from a firm called Helping Hand has been recruited to transport patients from Middleton Cheney to the Banbury practice.

The move follows months of unsuccessful efforts to recruit GPs after several partners left due to retirement or ill health.

Bill MacKeith, secretary of Keep our NHS public in Oxford, said: “What has happened with the consultant led maternity services at the Horton hospital is that they have been temporarily closed because they have not been able to recruit consultants.

“When they had their board of directors meeting they said they would continue to try and recruit consultants which means they could not have been trying very hard.

“I cannot help but think something similar is going on here.”

In a report seen by Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group last week (29/9), Dr Paul Park, who chairs the North Oxfordshire Locality Group and is also a partner at Hightown Surgery, said three out of six practices in Banbury have now declared themselves as vulnerable to closure.

He said the issues were "mainly due to recruitment and resourcing concerns", adding: "This is a great concern for the locality."

MP Victoria Prentis said she was sad to hear about the closure and added: "All of us in North Oxfordshire are facing serious healthcare challenges, not least of all the loss of our consultant-led maternity service at the Horton General hospital.

"The closure of well used GP surgeries, such as Horsefair and North Bicester, is very worrying for patients. I am doing everything I can to make sure that all my constituents have access to high quality healthcare. I will be meeting with David Smith, Chief Executive of the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, later on this week, and primary care and our local hospital will be at the top of my agenda."