Three Sheppey surgeries have warned patients their long-term GP service could be under threat.

The surgeries at Eastchurch, Warden Bay and Leysdown - all satellites of St George’s Medical Centre in Sheerness - have put up posters telling patients ‘Use us or lose us.’

The posters say: “On behalf of the doctors and staff we would like to thank all our loyal patients for their ongoing support. We hope you will continue to use our services to ensure that we can continue to supply a service to you all.”

The surgeries are led by GP Dr Anokh Pannu and include Dr Uchenna Ota and Dr Khilan Mistry. Between them, the doctors have almost 11,000 registered patients.

The three satellites are all at the eastern end of the Island where many of Sheppey’s most elderly and vulnerable live. The surgeries also serve thousands of holidaymakers who stay on the many caravan parks.

The shock move comes just weeks after a new Leysdown Pharmacy run by Dipak Patel opened in Leysdown Road virtually opposite Dr Pannu’s Leysdown surgery.

It is understood the presence of another pharmacy could dent the surgeries' income from dispensing medication from their own facilities.

St George’s is planning to move into a custom-built surgery on a new estate behind Leysdown primary school but its viability may now be in doubt after NHS England allowed the new pharmacy to be opened.

Labour’s Angela Harrison, who represents Sheerness on Swale council and Sheppey at Kent County Council, raised the matter at a meeting of the county’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Hosc).

She said: “The left hand doesn’t seem to know what the right hand is doing. NHS England seems to have ridden roughshod over this surgery.”

This week the surgery itself remained tight-lipped and refused to comment.

But a spokesman for NHS Swale Clinical Commissioning Group, which plans and pays for most of the area’s health services, said: “In 2015 as part of the standard process for new pharmacy applications the CCG and others contacted NHS England who commission community pharmacy services.

“The CCG advised of the possible impact that a new pharmacy in the area may have on other local health services. Based on the evidence available at the time, the CCG did not support the application.”