A GP practice flooded with new registrations has told hundreds of its patients to find a new surgery in the wake of Maidstone’s new housing developments.

Mote Medical Practice, in St Saviours Road, has sent letters to 280 patients warning them they will no longer be treated at the surgery as they live outside its boundary.

They have been advised to register with a GP closer to their home within the next three weeks.

Carolyn Chapman received a letter on Thursday last week, along with her husband and daughter, and now feels “anxious” and “unsafe”.

The 51-year-old, who lives two miles from her current GP, said: “We have had a 20-year relationship with the Mote Medical Practice and it has been brought to an end. It feels a bit ruthless.”

The letter, written on behalf of Mrs Chapman’s GP, states they currently receive between 30 and 50 enquiries each month.

It reads: “As a practice we historically kept patients who found themselves living outside the practice boundary when we altered our boundary line.

“With the new housing developments surrounding both our main and branch sites we are under pressure to register new local patients. To ensure patient safety we have to limit how many patients we register.”

The letter goes on to state that spaces are allocated on a “first come first served basis” but those registering are outnumbering those leaving the practice.

Mrs Chapman’s letter read: “You are unfortunately one of 280 patients who live outside our practice boundary.

“We have deliberated as to how we can overcome current pressures and the need to accommodate new patients moving into the area and it is with sincere regret that we must ask you to register with a new doctor closer to your home address.”

Mrs Chapman, of Chart Hill Road, now feels exposed and is struggling to register with a new GP before the July 19 cut-off date.

"We have had a 20-year relationship with the Mote Medical Practice and it has been brought to an end" - Carolyn Chapman

She said: “I went on to the NHS Choices website as the letter suggests and my surgery is the fifth option, just 0.1 miles off the fourth option.

“The closest one at Langley wasn’t taking any new patients and the one at Cobtree in Sutton Valence I have put in for pre-registration.

"We are all going to be scrambling around trying to get in with practices and I suspect it is going to be difficult.”

According to NHS Choices the Mote Medical Practice currently has more than 11,000 patients registered while Mrs Chapman’s closest surgery, the Cobtree Medical Practice, has 2,407.