Monument Surgeries have announced they are planning to close Pennywell Medical Centre due to difficulties in recruiting a permanent GP. 

Pennywell Medical Centre currently provides care to over 2500 registered patients from the surrounding area. Many of these residents have difficulty making the short trip to the Centre, and would undoubtedly have problems travelling further to the alternative Surgeries, needing to utilise unfamiliar public transport and incurring unnecessary financial fees. 

Waiting times for GP appointments at the alternative surgeries are already stretched, and will undoubtedly increase with the addition of the Pennywell Medical Centre patients. This means a decrease in the level of service provided!

This petition calls for Monument Surgeries and the NHS Sunderland CCG to immediately cancel all plans to close the Pennywell Medical Centre, to actively recruit a permanent GP in order to provide an acceptable level of service and to investigate the reasons given by those approached previously for refusing offers of employment at the Centre.