Patients meets to discuss buying Shropshire GP surgeries

The surgery in Ditton Priors jointly serves 4,000 patients along with a smaller branch in Stottesdon

Brown Clee Medical Practice Ditton Priors Medical Practice — The surgery in Ditton Priors jointly serves 4,000 patients along with a smaller branch in Stottesdon

The first of several meetings is being held to discuss plans by patients to buy and run two Shropshire GP surgeries.

The Brown Clee group previously said its current GPs soon planned to retire and it wanted to bring its surgeries under community ownership.

The main surgery in Ditton Priors and a smaller one in Stottesdon serve about 4,000 patients.

The first meeting is at Diddlebury Village Hall at 10:30 BST.

GPs would normally be expected to part-own the surgeries, the group said, but members are instead interested in buying the buildings and leasing them to doctors.

They expect costs to be in the "hundreds of thousands of pounds" but an exact fee would be set by the NHS, and the group has been exploring grants and charity charities.

Group chairman Tina Brown previously told the BBC she believed the surgeries would be the first ones owned by a community if their bid is successful.

Two further meetings will be held at Ditton Priors Village Hall at 14:30 on 30 September and Chorley Village Hall at 18:00 on 10 October.