A POPULAR Lancashire GP whose village surgery has been at the centre of a longstanding wrangle over who runs it looks like she will have to make a fresh bid to be allowed to stay in her post.

A question mark has hung over the future of Dr. Ann Robinson since county NHS bosses began the process of awarding a new contract for the operation of Withnell Health Centre more than two years ago.

Dr Robinson has been the lead GP at the Railway Road facility since 2013, but when a partnership with another doctor at the surgery was dissolved at the end of 2021, the practice had to be opened up to anyone who wanted to pitch to take it over.

Health bosses made a u-turn after an original deal to award the contract to conglomerate SSP Health in January 2023, after a public outcry by patients.

Residents claimed there had been flaws in the consultation process and the tender award process was restarted.

Supporters of the Save Withnell Health Centre campaign have insisted Dr Robinson should be awarded the management deal.

Now though the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board's (ICB) primary care commissioning committee has recommended a new procurement exercise should be launched.

Dr Robinson, whose interim deal to run the surgery expires in September, thinks many of her 5,500 patients will be “really cross” at the news.

She added: “The staff, too, are just so devastated. Eighty per cent of the women that work here have been [at the surgery] for between 10 and 20 years.  They are so loyal – and their loyalty is what makes the place so great.  They know people [as well as] I do,"

She believes the option of directly awarding her the contract could still be on the table if the ICB was “prepared to be a bit braver”.

“Our patient satisfaction score ranked us as the fourth-highest across the ICB [area] and they’ve also had feedback from 2,500 patients," she said.

Prof Craig Harris, ICB chief operating officer, said: “We believe the competitive procedure is the option which will give the quickest resolution. It will also allow us to use a new evaluation process which we have developed with the involvement of the patient steering group and embeds learning from the procurement process in 2022.

“It provides an opportunity for a potentially quicker resolution within the timeframes we have set out, while ensuring we follow due process for equity and fairness. This also allows us to involve members of the public in the process and the evaluation, which didn’t happen last time.

But health centre campaigner Louise France said: "Procurement is a process that undeniably favours big business over small independent teams, like that of our wonderful NHS GP, Dr Robinson.

“Professional bids for this process costs thousands of pounds to build – and the bigger a business is, the more money it has at its disposal. Dr Robinson is on the back foot before this process even starts.

“Patients [have been] ignored at every turn, despite what has turned out to be 12 months of a pointless ICB ‘patient engagement’ exercise."

The group plans to appeal to the Health Secretary directly and ask her to use her powers to take over this matter and remove the ICB from the process.