Uley village medical surgery closure would be 'devastating blow'

The closure of a Gloucestershire village's medical surgery would be a "devastating blow" for the community, a councillor has said.

Cam and Uley Family Practice is looking to move services from its building in Uley, to its other premises in Cam, its website says.

It says safe and effective services can no longer run from the Uley building.

"This will have a huge impact, nearly a third of residents are 65 or over," county councillor Wendy Thomas said.

Residents aired their opposition to the proposals during a recent emergency public meeting and have started a petition.

"This will be a devastating blow to Uley and the surrounding villages," said Ms Thomas.

"Residents value their local surgery highly, which many can walk to. They will now be forced to travel several miles to Cam," she added.

Uley Parish Council is also opposing the plans, which chairman Melanie Paraskeva said came "completely out of the blue".

"We really want to work with the practice to keep services in Uley. It's destroying village life because all our facilities are being taken away and going online," she said.

A public consultation is under way and residents have until 20 September to have their say, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said it had not received an application from Cam and Uley Family Practice to consider proposals to close the premises.

"The output from this consultation will be amongst the information presented to the CCG for consideration as part of the formal decision-making process," a spokesperson added.

Cam and Uley Family Practice has been approached for comment.

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