A MEDICAL centre has remained closed for seven weeks and patients say they have difficulty getting treatment from another surgery more than a mile away.

As reported in the Observer on May 8, The Mollison Way Medical Centre, in Mollison Way, Edgware, was shut after the practice manager and Harrow Primary Care Trust (PCT) failed to reach an agreement over how it provided care for the 2,900 patients.

The clinic has been closed since May 1. Dr Jena Jehan Goldsteine, the practice manager, did not sign a new contract with the PCT to use the premises because she was concerned the PCT was going to bring in another management team to run the clinic instead of her. She locked herself inside the surgery for more that four hours that day and would not let anyone in.

Patients have been given the option of finding an alternative surgery or being treated at the Honeypot Lane Medical Centre, in Honeypot Lane, Stanmore, 1.2 miles away.

A number of elderly patients have found it difficult to reach the surgery.

Veronica Charles, of Mollison Way, who was a patient at the surgery for 42 years, has not been able to travel to Honeypot Lane as she has to stay at home to care for her disabled husband.

The 82-year-old said: "My husband suffers from cancer and it is difficult for me. The pharmacy in Mollison Way have been very good, they take my prescriptions to the surgery and bring them back, but now I do not know what is going to happen."

Pigileti Narashiman, a member of the Mollison Way Medical Centre patient group, said: "We want to get the medical centre back to Mollison Way, as a lot people need help with the distance.

"But Dr Goldsteine is a spanner in the works. She has put up notices in the window of the centre telling people to go to another surgery in the area."

Patients held a consultation meeting with Harrow PCT to express their concerns on May 30.

Julie Taylor, head of contracts at Harrow PCT, said: "We had a pre-consultation meeting as there are nearly 3,000 patients at Mollison Way and we need to consult with all of them.

"There has been no decision on the long-term future of the surgery."

Ms Taylor added that the PCT was willing to provide alternative modes of transport for patients having difficulty getting to the Honeypot Lane surgery.

Dr Goldsteine said: "I am still upset. The patients feel that I have let them down, as they [the PCT] informed patients that the premises where not avaliable, but they were and are still avaliable."

Should anyone need the PCT to arrange transport to the Honeypot Lane surgery please call the patient advice liaison service on 0208 966 1031.