MALDON MP John Whittingdale has appealed for medical students to be sent to Essex as Maldon’s surgeries enter another year of closed lists.

Both Blackwater Medical Centre and Longfield Medical Centre informed the clinical commissioning group they would not be taking on new patients in August 2016.

Nearly a year and a half later, neither surgery has been able to accept new patients due to a shortage of GPs with the problem now described as chronic.

David Barker, practice manager at Longfield, said: “Our list is still closed, however we are in talks to agree a satisfactory way forward to enable us to open the list again as soon as possible.”

John Whittingdale MP raised concerns about the state of healthcare in the town in Parliament, asking health secretary Jeremy Hunt, for support.

Mr Whittingdale said: “Is my right honorable friend aware that, due to the difficulties in recruiting general practitioners, neither of the two GP surgeries in Maldon are taking on any new patients, despite the significant development taking place in the town?

“I therefore welcome the 1,500 extra medical training places that the government has funded, and ask for his support for some of those to go to the excellent Anglia Ruskin medical school in Chelmsford.”

Mr Hunt acknowledged the problem, but said he would not be the one making the decision.

Trevor Fernandes, chairman of the Blackwater patient participation group, said doctors at the surgery were dealing with far more patients than is recommended.

He said: “The list is closed as we do not have sufficient GPs to accomodate demand.

“However, new patients who are relatives of existing patients will be considered. The current list size for Blackwater is 13,923, which means doctors are seeing 2,320.5 patients each.

“The NHS national average is 1,750 patients per doctor.

“Given this situation, it would be irresponsible to reopen the list, which would also be unsafe for existing patients.

“The patient groups are reluctantly supporting the list closure.”

The extra training places, funded by the Government after a consultation, will be offered from next year.

Starting in September 2018, 500 of the places will go to already established medical schools, while the remaining 1,000 places will be allocated across the country based on a bidding process.

The places will be targeted in regions that struggle to attract newly qualified GPs.