PATIENTS will not be able to see their own GP in Worcestershire community hospitals, fears a health campaigner.

NHS bosses are carrying out a review of how GPs provide care across the county’s five community hospitals in Evesham, Pershore, Malvern, Tenbury and Bromsgrove.

The Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, which runs the hospitals, has yet to confirm when the changes will be brought in or how they will work but concerns have been raised by the Friends of Evesham Community Hospital.

Friends chairman Frances Smith fears patients will not be able to see their regular GPs while staying in any of the county’s five community hospitals.

NHS leaders say the changes are not a cost-saving exercise and the trust’s medical director Dr Bill Creaney has also met local GPs and members of Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Groups to discuss the changes.

Mrs Smith said: “There will be one doctor looking after five community hospitals. It is a large area for them to cover and I think this is a detrimental step.

“People in Evesham are used to having their own GPs look after them.

"The trust is also changing the service and it should go out to public consultation. They say there are not changing the service, but they are.”

The Friends have already written to the chief executive of the Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust about their concerns and expressing support for the existing service.

Mrs Smith said: “People want their own doctor to be able to visit them, admit them and care for them while in hospital. I think care will suffer.”

Sarah Dugan, chief executive of Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, said: “We are treating patients with increasingly complex needs in our community hospitals as part of our commitment to supporting people to receive care closer to home.”

Simon Trickett, chief operating officer for South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We’ve been working closely with Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust and local GPs on proposals for medical cover in community hospitals.

“A number of ideas are emerging to make the way that medical cover is delivered across the area more consistent, and we will continue to look at the best way this can be delivered.

“We see an integral role to be played by all community hospitals, including Evesham, in delivering local health care services in the future.”