TWO GP surgeries are set to close as they have been found to be 'too small to continue'.

Horsfield Surgery at Colne Health Centre and and Eagle Surgery at the Acorn Primary Care Centre in Accrington, will shut at the end of February this year.

A review of the practices came about following the end of the contract between East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group and East Lancashire Medical Services (ELMS).

It will see the two GP sites close as they have been deemed not big enough to continue.

The two surgeries are run by ELMS, who also run two larger GP surgeries, Pendle Valley Mill, Nelson, and Brierfield Surgery, and these will remain open.

It is not known how many jobs will be lost by the closures, but ELMS said they would work closely with staff from the practices to ensure that any displaced employees 'will be offered the opportunity take on roles elsewhere within the company, where those roles exist.'

Patients at Horsfield and Eagle Surgeries have been advised that they can remain registered with ELMS, which means that they would be able to use GP services at Pendle Valley Mill Surgery in Nelson and Brierfield Surgery.

And patients currently registered with Horsfield or Eagle Surgery can choose to register with another GP practice closer to home.

The CCG and ELMS said they will be writing to all patients currently registered with Horsfield and Eagle surgeries to explain the process for registration.

Dr Paul Fourie, medical director of ELMS, said:"We are absolutely committed to supporting those patients affected by this process to either remain registered with our federated practice or registering with another practice, closer to home.

"As a responsible employer, we are working closely with staff from those practices, to ensure that any displaced employees will be offered the opportunity to take on roles elsewhere within the company, where those roles exist."

Mark Youlton, chief officer at East Lancashire CCG, said: “We had hoped that the four sites could be brought together to offer the benefits of a larger practice but because of the distances between each of the sites it was clear that staff could end up spending valuable time travelling between sites or would not be equally available to all registered patients.

"It is definitely preferable and more efficient for doctors and nurses to be seeing patients in appointments rather than travelling around East Lancashire."