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Thousands of Islanders will have to register with a Sittingbourne GP in a shock new twist to a major health shake-up.
Nine thousand patients say they have been left in the lurch after health bosses told them to find a new doctor.
There is widespread confusion following the announcement that health bosses are terminating the contract with DMC Healthcare who run a GP surgery at Sheppey Community Hospital in Plover Road, Minster, in less than two months' time.
DMC has run the surgery at the site for the past 12 years.
Letters from the new Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which has taken over planning and paying for Swale's healthcare, give patients until October 31 to register with a new doctor.
Many have turned to social media to vent their fury. Among the eight alternative surgeries willing to sign up new patients, three are in Sittingbourne, including The Meads at Sonora Fields.
Islander Alison Griffin stormed: "It is a disgrace that 9,000 people have now got to find their own doctors and have basically been left to fend for ourselves.
"We were told we would be allocated a doctor but that's not true. So many upset people have no idea what to do or who to turn to.
"I have tried three doctors so far and they have no spaces. What is the point when they all seem so overstretched themselves?"
She added: "Local councillors have been useless. No one seems to care."
One woman wrote on Facebook: "The Meads are wonderful but I’ve just moved to Leysdown and been told to find a new GP as I’m out of their catchment area now."
Another frustrated patient wrote: "I only registered with DMC a couple of months ago after moving from Sittingbourne to the Island.
"We were previously with Chestnut surgery who told us we had to find another doctor as we were now out of their catchment area - yet they are now one of the five we’re meant to register with!"
Mary Nicholls is also frustrated with the situation.
She said: "Of the five group practices on the Island that the CCG assure us are taking new patients, I was not able to speak to any of them on Monday.
"If and when we manage to get registered with a new practice, a process which will take a week according to the CCG, 9000+ people will have to go through the review process which is needed when joining a new practice.
"All this in about nine weeks!"
"Of the five group practices on the Island that the CCG assure us are taking new patients, I was not able to speak to any of them on Monday..."
Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson said "a number of constituents" had contacted him about the impending end of DMC’s contract.
He said he was warned in May that the CCG was planning changes and was promised an update by the end of July but said he had to chase it.
The CCG has only just updated its August statement which said it would be writing to all registered patients to give them "full information about their future care."
It added: "Patients can be assured that access to regular GP services, such as consultations and prescriptions, will remain in place at all times."
It insisted the CCG would also ensure a GP walk-in-service would "continue on the island.’’
DMC Healthcare currently also runs that service. Rosemary Smart, DMC's head of primary care, said the future of the walk-in element remained "unclear."
She added: "DMC have, to date, been given very little information which we can pass onto our patients. We have asked the CCG for further formal communications and we will continue to press for this."
In July, last year DMC announced it was to hand back contracts for key services in Medway and other parts of the county. The move came as DMC Healthcare came under pressure over the level of care it is providing thousands of patients. The south London-based company was previously stripped of contracts to run five GP surgeries in Medway.
Alison Burchell, deputy director of primary care at NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We have contacted patients registered at DMC Healthcare GP Practice, Sheppey, to let them know the practice will close on October 31. We have also explained to patients that they need to register with another GP practice whose boundary area covers their home address.
"Details of practices taking on new patients have been included with the letter to make things as easy as possible for those affected. We have worked with other practices in the area and have been assured that all those listed in the letter are able to take on new patients who live within their catchment area.
'Surgeries all expecting and prepared for new registrations'
"They are all expecting and prepared for new registrations following the closure of the DMC Healthcare Sheppey practice. Patients registered with DMC Healthcare Sheppey who live in Sittingbourne will be able to register at one of the three Sittingbourne practices whose details were given.
"If patients have difficulty registering at another practice or need support to re-register they should call our helpline on 0300 555 0708, between 8am and 6.30pm."
She said patients can continue to contact DMC Healthcare Sheppey until October 31 or until they register with a new GP practice.
She confirmed DMC Healthcare also runs the GP urgent care walk-in service at Sheppey Community Hospital and said the contract for this service also ends on October 31.
She said: "A new GP-walk in service will be in place at Sheppey Community Hospital from November 1 for urgent care needs."
She said further information on this new service would be "available soon.”
These surgeries can take patients
Five Sheppey practices have agreed to take the DMC patients. They are: Dr Patel in Sheerness and Minster; OM Medical Centre in Sheerness and Minster; Minster Medical Group, Sheerness and Minster; St George's Medical Centre at Sheerness, Warden Bay, Leysdown and Eastchurch, and the VEL surgery in Sheerness.
Green Porch, The Meads and Chestnut Surgery will take patients who live in Sittingbourne, Iwade or Kemsley.
Read more: All the latest news from Sheppey
