THE legal wrangle at the centre of the closure of Coombswood Surgery could be  resolved soon after NHS bosses voiced frustration at the situation.

On May 31 bailiffs repossessed the surgery, the first time this has happened in England, due to "persistent none payment of rent" leaving patients to travel miles to see a doctor.

Dudley NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, which commissions services at the surgery, has organised a meeting for patients on Friday, September 30 at the Zion Christian Centre, Halesowen, at 1pm.

Dan King, director of primary care at the CCG, said: "The CCG is frustrated with this situation and we are disappointed that the landlord has taken the decision to forfeit the lease."

"This is a dispute between the tenant (the GP) and her landlord and the CCG has no legal powers to require the landlord to reopen the surgery."

He added: "We take the sudden closure of the practice, and its impact upon the population of Halesowen very seriously and are taking all appropriate actions within our statutory powers to help draw this dispute to a conclusion.

"We are aware that the landlord and the tenant are negotiating the terms of a new lease, and we are hopeful that they can reach agreement soon."

He added: "This meeting is in public at the Zion Centre to allow openness and transparency of our deliberations and decisions on this matter.

"We are assured that the practice is managing the situation to meet patient needs, additional sessions have been provided and that there has been an increase in home visits to help cater for those patients with mobility problems.

"Prescriptions are being forwarded electronically to the nearby pharmacy."

Coombswood Surgery is part of the Stourside Medical Group which includes Halesowen Medical Centre, Birmingham Street and Tenlands Road Surgery and is run by Dr Ruth Heard.

The medical group is in dispute with landlord Dr Humphrey Akufo-Teteh who founded the surgery in 1985 and retired in 2013.

Dr Akufo-Teteh said: “We took legal action because at one stage there was 10 months rent outstanding.

"The legal action did not come out of the blue, we even notified the Dudley NHS CCG in June 2015 about the problems.

"I want this surgery back open, and I gave the go-ahead in June for Dr Ruth Hearn to move back in, but they have been delaying, we are waiting for a lease to be signed.”

He added: “I set this surgery up 31 years ago because I knew how much this part of Halesowen needed a surgery so I want as many patients to attend this meeting.”

Halesowen and Rowley Regis MP, James Morris has been inundated with complaints from patients.

He said: "I have been meeting with all the different partners to help find a solution.

"I have been contacted by many concerned and anxious patients who have genuine concerns for the future of their surgery.

He added: "I will be going to speak up on behalf of those affected and encourage local residents to attend."

Dr Ruth Hearn said: “A huge amount of time and effort has been spent during the previous 4 months trying to negotiate the re-opening of Coombswood surgery and it appears we are very close to a resolution.

“We have also worked hard to ensure that we have been able to continue providing services to this particular patient population. We had arranged an inspection this morning to ensure the building was in a suitable condition that we could restart services as soon as possible. Unfortunately this was cancelled by the Landlord but we hope to re-arrange this as soon as possible.”

She added: “The closure was entirely avoidable – regrettably the practice only became aware of the error that had led to the late payment of the rent once the practice had already been closed. We are grateful for the patience and on-going support from all our patients affected by the closure.”

To submit a question for the meeting email Lindsey.harding@dudleyccg.nhs.uk or call 01384 321677.