The general practitioner of a Chorley health centre has forked out £35,000 of her own savings to appeal against a private firm taking over the surgery.

Members of the community have rallied to reimburse the cost of legal fees that Dr Ann Robinson paid, raising over £1,000 in just 24 hours, in the fight for Withnell Health Centre. 

SSP Health, which operates 37 practices across the North West, was awarded the contract by the Lancs Integrated Care Board (ICB) after putting the practice out to tender following the departure of Dr Mahtab.

Around 1,300 patients at Withnell Health Centre lodged letters of objection to the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board in an attempt to prevent the private conglomerate taking over the contract from Dr Robinson, who has been there for a decade.

Councillor Margaret France, who was a doctor at the surgery for 30 years, has started a GoFundMe. She said: “Dr Ann Robinson, a NHS GP based in Withnell, Chorley, has been fighting a legal battle to save the GP practice she manages from a takeover by a private profit based company. This legal challenge has cost her £35,000 of her own savings.

“All she wanted to achieve is to give her 5,500 patients the chance to have their voices heard by the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (LSCICB).

“It should not cost Dr Robinson £35,000 of her own money just to simply continue doing the job taking care of her 5,500 patients and to ensure that her staff can continue to take care of us also.”

Dr Robinson shared that she felt humbled when she learned that a GoFundMe had been set up. She said: "It shows the strength of feeling and the huge levels of support in the community for the health centre.

"I feel particularly humbled as obviously everyone is struggling with the cost of living crisis at the moment, but I am extremely grateful to everyone involved. 

"The community have really come together to campaign for what they believe is right for them. 

"Today (February 21), I heard that the local schools are working together to plan a demonstration so the voices of young people and their families are heard.

"Knowing that we are all supporting each other is what is keeping us going. We all believe very strongly in what we are doing and we will continue our protest and discourse with the ICB until we get the answers the community deserves."

Kevin Lavery chief executive of Lancs ICB said: “Further engagement could have made patients and staff more aware of the procurement process and that it could result in a different organisation taking over the running of the GP practice and due to this, we’d like to apologise.

“We are currently reviewing all the information from the procurement process and at this point have not signed a contract with a new provider. We hope to have this matter resolved within two to three weeks.

“Going forward we’re committed to going above and beyond with our public engagement and would like to reassure our local population that securing high-quality services remains a priority for the ICB.”

So far, £2,490 has been raised for Dr Robinson. You can donate here.