TWO Bradford GP practices are to shut, health chiefs have decided.

Woodhead Road Surgery, in Lidget Green, and Manningham Medical Practice, in Lumb Lane, will close down on September 30 this year.

The Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) in charge of the practices will write to patients registered there to tell them of the decision to close and advising how to register with a different GP.

A spokesman for the CCGs said there are 19 practices within a mile of Woodhead Road and 15 practices within a mile of Manningham Medical Practice - and that all of them have open lists.

The closures were decided on following public consultations and an in-depth review of both practices. The decisions to close were made by the CCGs' primary care commissioning committees (PCCC).

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NHS Bradford District CCG needed to make changes at Woodhead Road Surgery as the company that ran it for the last five years, One Medicare, came to the end of its contract last September.

Although the CCG offered a short extension to One Medicare’s contract, the company did not wish to continue providing services at the surgery so a neighbouring practice, Dr Gilkar at Little Horton Lane Medical Centre, was given a temporary contract to take over the services.

NHS Bradford City CCG needed to review the future of Manningham Medical Practice, in Lumb Lane, as the company that has run it for the last few years, Local Care Direct, was approaching the end of its current contract.

Max Mclean and Richard Wilkinson, respective chairmen of Bradford City and Bradford Districts CCGs' PCCCs, said: "We know that patients may be upset by the closure of their GP practice and we are sorry for any disruption this may cause.

"No decision to close a practice is ever taken lightly, and we would like to thank everyone who gave us their feedback during the consultations.

"However, we have to carefully balance the wishes of some patients against our priority to develop high quality, responsive and robust primary care services that can deliver a wide range of local medical services in the community.

"We are working very closely with practices in the vicinity which have capacity to take on new patients and we will do everything possible to support people in moving to a new surgery of their choice."

Last August, Bashir Ahmed, 62, of Cliffe Terrace, Lidget Green, branded possible closures as "ridiculous".

He added: "I only live around the corner from the surgery, so it is convenient for me. I have been at this surgery for about 35 years now. It would be inconvenient for me if the surgery shut."