THE future of a GP surgery serving 12,500 people is under threat from plans to cut its funding by a third.

Rowhedge Surgery, which is based in the village and at Essex University’s Colchester campus, has launched a campaign to convince its patients to lobby to retain its funding.

The surgery will be badly affected by the imminent scrapping of the minimum practice income guarantee, which promises a basic level of funding.

About 9,000 of the 12,500 patients on its books are university students.

They do not attract as much funding as other residents because they do not live in the area all-year-round and require fewer appointments than elderly patients.

See Tuesday's Gazette for the full story.