A bus company is being urged to rethink cutting a bus route, with patients left struggling 600m uphill to reach a medical surgery.

Stagecoach has decided to axe the number four service, the only route regularly serving Estuary View Medical Centre that travelled from Greenhill to Canterbury, via Whitstable.

Now rather than walking just 35 metres from the stop directly outside the surgery, in Boorman Way, Whitstable, elderly and infirm patients will have to travel more than 600 metres and cross busy roads to get to their appointments.

The operator says the service is no longer viable for the company to run and it ceased on April 30.

The cut is one of 60 services in the county expected to be cancelled by this October.

While this is purely commercial service many of the cancellations follow Kent County Council (KCC) announcing they would be reducing their funding for subsidised routes by £2.2 million.

Dr John Ribchester, GP and director of strategy at the practice, is among those calling for Stagecoach to rethink the withdrawal.

Dr Ribchester, who petitioned Stagecoach to install the stop outside the surgery a decade ago, said: “We’re very disappointed because we spent a long time talking to Stagecoach to get that little stretch from Long Reach down to the little roundabout right in front of Estuary View covered.

“Quite a lot of people do come by bus and it took a long time for Stagecoach to put the bus stop in and blow me down, they’ve just announced to us that they are taking it away. There was no discussion, we were just told it was going to end.”

He continued: “That’s not good for our patients and a huge number of patients were using the service to access Estuary View Medical Centre but it is also used for access to the shops there and all the residents of the estate opposite the surgery.

“Estuary View is not just a general practice, it provides a lot of integrated healthcare services, including the urgent treatment centre, diagnostics, outpatient and the day surgery.”

Dr Ribchester says that as well as Whitstable, patients come from surrounding villages, North Canterbury and Herne Bay.

“We have quite a broad area that people access us from and that is why having good public transport matters,” he said.

Paul Parks, 74, used the number four to reach both the medical centre and the nearby Prospect Retail Park.

He is reliant on buses after suffering a brain haemorrhage six years ago, which left him unable to drive.

Mr Parks said: “They don’t think of people like me, who can’t drive. I had heavy shopping this morning and I had to walk up to the Long Reach bus stop, I’m agile enough to do so but there are a lot of people who just aren’t able to.

“There was a gentleman I saw struggling on crutches, and he had to walk all the way up, cross several dangerous roads and then when he got to the top he had to cross again at Long Reach and that bit really is lethal.”

Mr Parks has suggested an alternative route that he believes could be the solution. He argues that the Triangle bus, or even every other Triangle bus, which currently stops at Long Reach could make a two-minute detour to cover the medical centre.

The only bus now serving the Estuary View stop is the 638 but this only runs approximately once every two hours, leaving patients stranded while they wait.

The 638 travels from Whitstable to Faversham via Yorkletts, Dargate and Hernhill meaning the many patients coming from other areas are forced to make considerably longer journeys.

A spokesperson for Stagecoach said, "Route 4 was one of two services calling at Estuary View Medical Centre.

“We operated it on a commercial basis for a number of years, but sadly, with very few passengers using the service, and the cost of operating buses continuing to rise, it's no longer possible to sustain the route commercially. It's a hard decision, because we know the impact it may have on some individual people who used the service, but without funding to underwrite the cost of its operation, we can't continue to run the service."

The spokesperson added: "The medical centre will continue to be served on Mondays to Fridays by KCC supported route 638, linking with Whitstable town centre and Faversham via Seasalter, Hernhill and Boughton."