MORE progress was made in the fight to save an under-threat surgery as patients and councillors lobbied the organisation responsible for commissioning health care services.

Residents campaigning to save Cogges Surgery, in Witney, attended Thursday's annual public meeting of Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG).

Last month, OCCG revealed it had received bids to run a branch surgery at Cogges from GP practices across Oxfordshire and said it expects a solution by the end of October.

District councillor Rosa Bolger, who is part of the campaign to save the surgery, recently met with the chief executive of OCCG Louise Patten and believes the surgery's future is promising.

She said: "The campaign to Save Cogges Surgery is going really well and starting to feel like we’ll have a positive outcome.

"Having put the concerns of patients and residents to Louise Patten, I feel like they are listening - our voices are being heard.

"As OCCG receive bids from providers to take over the services of the surgery, I will continue to reiterated the importance of retaining GP services on Cogges.

"This is what our community is asking for."

In July, the doctors running Cogges surgery announced their intention to hand back their contract for providing services.

If OCCG does not find a provider by January 31, the surgery could close.

Ms Bolger attended the Labour Party Conference last week and raised the issue with the Shadow Health Secretary, Jonathon Ashworth.

She said: "We need the Tory government to stop running our NHS in this way and the Tory council to stop putting more and more demands on public services.

"Our NHS needs to be properly funded, and I will continue to work for this."