THE future of a threatened South Lakes GP surgery could soon be decided.

Commissioners will decide today whether to close the practice and disperse the patient list to nearby GP practices, or to keep the surgery open and find a new provider.

Morecambe Bay Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is understood to be considering six bids from different groups hoping to take over the service at Goodly Dale after private provider, OneMedical, served notice on its contract at the Bowness practice, which will expire in March.

South Lakes MP Tim Farron is one of a number of parties lobbying the CCG to ensure the future of Goodly Dale remains secure, following responses from its own consultation which showed an overwhelming degree of support for the services to stay at the current practice.

Out of the 1,567 patients who took part in the consultation, 1,492 (95 per cent) said that services must remain local, with 63 per cent saying the most important aspect in accessing GP services for them was the location of the practice.

Mr Farron said: “I’m really grateful to our local NHS Clinical Commissioning Group for consulting the views of local residents and I’ve been working with them to try and get as many responses from patients as possible. The message that has come back from this exercise is loud and clear that patients want their GP services to stay at Goodly Dale. I would strongly encourage the CCG to listen to the results of their own consultation and keep the surgery open with a new, local provider.”