PATIENTS at a Gwent doctors surgery are appealing for health officials to reconsider a decision to close the facility.

Brynhyfryd surgery in Croesyceiliog shut on April 1 after Cwmbran Village Surgery, which runs the Brynhyfryd branch, decided a decline in patient demand, issues over health and safety and the surgery’s state of decoration meant it should close.

This meant the majority of its 1,500 patients should are to use the Cwmbran Village Surgery instead.

But an independent report from the Aneurin Bevan Community Health Council (ABCHC) said shutting the surgery would be a “significant loss” leaving many vulnerable residents "terrified" of making the one and half mile journey to see doctors in Cwmbran.

Bernard Rosser, a Brynhyfryd patient and former chairman of the Croesyceiliog Dinosaur (Senior Citizens) Group, said: “A lot of these patients are old people, ill people, disabled people, and getting into Cwmbran is very difficult for them. Some of them are terrified. This has not been thought through properly.”

Marie Brock, of Brynhyfryd, is in her 80s and said the closure of her closest surgery was a big disappointment.

Mrs Brock, who used the surgery for regular health checks, said: “I do not drive, I am 83, and this change will mean I have to get two buses. When you go to the doctors you’re not going because you’re well and you just don’t need this.”

Cwmbran Village Surgery told the Aneurin Bevan Health Board in January that it planned to close Brynhyfryd surgery, but agreed to send a questionnaire to patients to establish the effect of the closure.

Based on the questionnaire responses, a report from the ABCHC said many residents were concerned that the lack of a direct public transport link into Old Cwmbran would cause them difficulty in getting to a GP.

The report also raised concerns that Cwmbran Village Surgery's reasons for closing Brynhyfryd, including health and safety reasons and a lack of patient demand, could be used to close other branch surgeries across Gwent.

But despite the ABCHC’s concerns, Anuerin Bevan health board confirmed last week that it had agreed to the surgery's closure.

A spokesman said the board had accepted the ABCHC report's recommendations to consider providing alternative health services in Brynhyfryd such as a nurse practitioner for the Croesyceiliog area, making sure Brynhyfryd patients knew about the range of services now available to them, and reviewing Cwmbran Village Surgery's capacity to cope with the influx of patients from Brynhyfryd, but none of these recommendations included keeping the surgery open.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Rethink closure

WE FULLY understand the concerns of former patients of Brynhyfryd Surgery in Croesyceiliog which has closed.

And at the very least we feel this decision deserves to be reconsidered by the Aneurin Bevan Health Board.

For the elderly and vulnerable patients among the 1,500 on the surgery's list, the surgery closure marks a significant loss.

It also means that patients will have to travel an extra mile and a half to see a doctor.

This may not seem far, but for people who are elderly, or seriously ill and who cannot drive, it is not as straightforward as it sounds.

Surely proper consideration should have been given to public transport availability, or in this case, the lack of it.

The Community Health Council, which is effectively the patients' watchdog, argued vociferously against the move fearing many patients would find the prospect of travelling terrifying.

But unfortunately its concerns fell on deaf ears.