THE future of a village's only GP surgery looks bleak after health care bosses recommended patients move to neighbouring practices if an alternative option is not found.

The primary care team at Morecambe Bay Clinical Commissioning Group held a public meeting at Askam Band Hall yesterday to decide the fate of the village’s GP service.

Health officials unanimously recommended patients ‘dispersed’ onto other local practices, including Dalton and Kirkby, after failing to find a suitable replacement for the village’s long-serving GP, Dr Prakashchandra Jain, who owns the practice.

Last year Dr Jain announced plans to retire in March 2020.

The announcement came after restrictions were imposed on his practice following a police investigation being launched into sexual assault allegations against him.

Dr Jain has offered to extend his retirement leave until the end of June to ensure services are available for Askam residents.

More than 150 residents attended yesterday’s meeting, which discussed three potential options surrounding the surgery’s potential closure.

They were: finding a replacement GP to take over the 1,500-person surgery, which had been thus far unsuccessful, disperse patients to neighbouring practices, or run a branch surgery in the village headed by a nearby practice.

Peter Higgins, chief executive of Lancashire and Cumbria Consortium of Local Medical Committees (LMC), championed the third option.

He said: “We welcome the exploration of the branch option and we need to set out a timescale of which to undertake that.

“However, another location would have to be found in Askam and there would need to be a suitable arrangement in the interim period.”

A number of residents voiced concerns about transport links to neighbouring towns and the lack of an alternative pharmacy in Askam.

Marie Bell said: “There is a massive transport problem here. There are no buses to Dalton. People could be waiting hours between coming to and from appointments.

“Losing the pharmacy will force people to travel out to Dalton and Ulverston.

“How is this NHS care? You’ve let the people in this village down.”

Ben Shirley, Cumbria County Councillor for Dalton North, said: “It seems like you had a pre-meeting before this and the decision was already made.

“I have very little faith in you. There is someone who wants to buy the premises and I’m quite cross this wasn’t mentioned.

“You’ve let us down.”

Jerry Hawker, chief officer at the CCG said afterwards: “The CCG agreed to work on potential options with other local GP practices to explore a branch surgery in Askam, if this is not feasible, patients will be dispersed to neighbouring GP practices.

“To explore this option thoroughly, the CCG will be accepting Dr Jain’s offer of continuing to provide services for another three months, which means services including the dispensary will continue to be delivered at Askam Surgery until the end of June.

“The CCG is committed to working with local practices and other relevant agencies to address the concerns raised.

“We would like to reassure patients that they will still have access to the home visiting service, district nursing and out of hours GP service in any eventuality.

“A letter will be sent to all households explaining the outcome of the meeting and the next steps.”