The decision on whether to merge five Medway GP sites into three has been postponed as further consultation with patients is needed.

Medway Primary Care Commissioning Committee (PCCC), the group responsible for planning and buying GP care services, had said a decision would be made at a private meeting yesterday.

However the decision on whether to close the Sunlight Surgery, in Richmond Road, Gillingham, and the DMC Branch Clinic Twydall, in Twydall Green has now been delayed.

Stuart Jeffery, chief operating officer at Medway CCG explained: “The closure of GP surgeries at the Sunlight Centre and DMC Twydall Branch Surgery was proposed in line with the Medway Model.

"The Medway Model seeks to offer a greater range of quality services away from the hospital environment, closer to people’s homes, supporting GPs to work at scale alongside other health and care professionals.

"The proposal to reduce the number of sites will ensure a more resilient service in the future.

"However, it has become clear that further engagement with patients is required before a decision on reducing the number of sites is made and we have therefore postponed this decision to allow for more engagement with patients and stakeholders.

"To ensure that there is no gap in the provision of GP services to patients, we will continue to re-procure GP services across all of the five existing sites.

"We will continue our engagement with the public and stakeholders over a longer period, to ensure that we get the widest range of views before deciding on the final number of sites."