A DOCTOR has quit the NHS after health bosses launched an inquiry into her treatment of patients on stress-relieving valium.

Barbara Rowland, of St Jude's Health Centre, Accrington Road, Blackburn, said she felt she had no support when trying to wean people off the drug, which is used for the short-term relief of anxiety.

Patients began complaining in May after their prescriptions were cancelled or lowered.

Today, David Brunskill, director of corporate development at Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust, said her decision was unfortunate.

But he insisted she had received "continuous support" over the last 12 months.

A spokesman from the British Medical Association said the move was "very sad" particularly at a time when NHS staff numbers were low.

Dr Rowland, who has been at the health centre for the last three years, will be taking two of her staff with her when she reopens as a private clinic, providing health care and a laser surgery.

She said: "I couldn't see any way forward. My life was becoming so difficult and I had no way of moving on. The better I was doing with lowering the numbers the more complaints came in and the more hassle I got from the PCT.

"I just don't want to work with them any more, which is a shame for my NHS patients and I am sorry. But I could see no other option. It had go to a point where I couldn't carry on."

The GP, who lives in Hurst Green, was instructed by Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust, as part of a national initiative to lower the number of patients who had become valium addicts.

She handed in her notice, claiming that instead of supporting her, the trust announced they would need to look further into the number of complaints received over the last year.

In a letter to patients this week, she announced that she would be closing the NHS surgery at the end of the month.

East Lancashire has high levels of people on the drug, according to Council for Involuntary Tranquilliser and Antidepressants Addiction, linked to the area's history of deprivation.

In the UK, there are at least 13 million prescriptions for tranquillisers, including valium, per year

One million people are currently on long-term prescriptions, some for 40 years, according to the Department of Health.

Tranquillisers are the second largest addiction after alcohol in the western world, according to the World Health Organisation.

The GP's patient list will be taken over by Shadsworth surgery, which is building a new branch to cater for the extra patients.

But one patient, Andrea Ashworth, 32, said she was scared what this would mean for her and her family after having the same doctor all her life.

Miss Ashworth, of Haslingden Road, Guide, Blackburn, said: "I am worried about moving. Generations of my family have been going to this surgery since before I was born.

"I don't want to move to somewhere new. I am concerned for the elderly patients getting there, who are all very upset. And I am concerned about being accommodated by a new surgery. "

Mr Brunskill added: "The PCT has made robust arrangements for the continuation of GP services for all patients affected. Letters are being sent to patients this week."

Founder, and counsellor for the Council for Involuntary Tranquilliser and Antidepressants Addiction charity, Pam Armstrong, who works across Lancashire said: "There are still many people in East Lancashire on the drug. Many areas in the country have been much more successful in lowering numbers. But that is simply because they had fewer originally."