A GP surgery is to relocate outside its own catchment area leaving patients with a six-mile round trip just to see their family doctor.
The practice, set up in 1948 alongside the NHS, is believed to be the first to move so far from where patients qualify to register.
Campaigners warn if the move goes ahead, it will be the “green light” for more surgeries to merge or relocate miles away.
It comes amid a national shortage of doctors which has forced hundreds of surgery closures.
Half a million patients were forced to find a new surgery last year.
Patients have held protests at Ravenscroft Medical Centre, in Golders Green, North London, which health bosses are moving to a building 3.2 miles away.
OAP Emma Davis has found the move “very distressing”.
Emma, 73, has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which affects the muscles and tendons.
She said: “There’s no way I can get to the new site in the winter because it’s two or three buses, and a long walk at either end.”
Dr Paul Blom, a GP there for 35 years, told the Mirror: “If this is allowed to go ahead, it will be the green light for practices to be closed and moved.
“There is a retirement home nearby. The frail and elderly will struggle to get to the new surgery.”
But senior partner at the practice Dr Barry Subel said: “We intend to work to improve the health of our patients, reducing the number of visits patients need to make to the surgery.”
