THOUSANDS of patients are having to find a new doctor following the decision of a GP surgery to close.

The Arun Medical Group will be closing the doors of its practice in Littlehampton for the last time at the end of October.

It means more than 7,000 patients will now have to register with other GP practices in the town instead.

The practice gave formal notice to Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in May that it intended to close.

Its branch surgery in East Preston closed in May but the main practice in East Street has remained open for a few months longer.

The decision has sparked renewed concerns about the difficulties faced by practices as they cope with increased demands and a shortage of available GPs.

In a statement, the partners at the practice said: “We are extremely saddened and sorry that the practice has to close.

“It was a difficult decision for the partners to make and we truly wished we’d been able to find a way to stay open.

“Like many GP practices all over the UK we have struggled to recruit new GPs and with the increase in demand for GP services in Littlehampton we just don’t have enough doctors to safely provide the high level of quality care patients are used to.

“We are committed to working with the other GP practices in Arun and the CCG to limit the disruption to patients as much as we can, while closing down the practice.”

CCG head of primary care Sarah Henley said: “It is a difficult time for general practice in Arun and we are working very closely with the existing practices in Littlehampton and surrounding area to ensure they have the support and mechanisms in place to take on the additional patients from Arun Medical Group.

“GP practices in Arun have temporarily closed their lists but I can confirm that practices in have agreed to open them.”

All patients have been written to with information about the decision and how to register with a new practice.

The CCG will keep patients up-to-date throughout this process to provide as smooth a transition as possible.