Petition calls for Bishop's Castle doctor's return

Petitions with more than 900 signatures calling for the reinstatement of a Shropshire doctor will be handed to county health chiefs tomorrow.

Residents in Bishop's Castle want Dr Adrian Penney returned to his post as a partner at Bishop's Castle Medical Practice. Dr Penney has not worked at the practice for four months due to an ongoing dispute with staff.

Petitions will be handed over at a board meeting of Shropshire County Primary Care Trust to support scores of e-mails sent to PCT officials.

And the town's Shropshire councillor Peter Phillips has also met with health chiefs in a bid to resolve the issue for the benefit of patients.

Petition forms have been circulated around a number of shops in the town over the past few months and in surrounding villages such as Norbury and Lydbury North. Posters urging people to sign the petition have also appeared.

PCT officials have been helping all parties in the dispute in the hope of finding a resolution without success.

Councillor Phillips said: "I have had an urgent meeting with Leigh Griffin, the chief executive of the PCT. I was moved to do this because of concerns coming in from my residents and they need stability in their health care.

"More than 200 people have written in about this issue and there are more than 900 signatures on petitions. I just want to make sure my residents can be reassured and to get everything resolved."

Dr St John Penney, father of Adrian and a town councillor in Bishop's Castle, said: "There must be way more than 1,000 complaints if you take petition signatures and e-mails sent to the PCT. If there are complaints about the way the medical practice is being run the PCT is obliged to act."

Mat James, spokesman for Shropshire County PCT, said: "The board will be made aware of the petition that has come in, both the written and electronic parts.

"There will be a public questions session during the meeting for any members of the public with questions they want to ask or issues they want to raise."

The meeting will be held at Shrewbsury Town Football Club's Greenhous Meadow at a time to be announced.

By Peter Kitchen