A THOUSAND patients are facing a ten-week wait to find out if they will lose their doctors' practice.

Last month, the Medical Group wrote to patients in Lanchester, near Durham, warning them that the village's Westlands surgery was to close because of a shortage of doctors.

At a meeting attended by more than 60 villagers, Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust (PCT) announced it would extend the consultation period on proposals to close the practice until mid-October.

The practice planned to close because it has lost two part-time Spanish doctors.

To help out, the trust is sending the practice a nursing practitioner and a first contact practitioner for emergency care.

A trust spokeswoman said: "The PCT, the practice and Derwentside Primary Care Trust agreed to work together to ensure that all patients registered at the surgery would have access to medical care before any decision would be made."

The trust is coming up with a series of options, which will be put to a group of 25 volunteers.

One option is to ask two full-time doctors to take on the extra patients when they arrive in October.

Mike O'Hare, Westlands practice manager, declined to comment.

The final decision will be made at a meeting of Durham and Chester-le-Street PCT in John Snow House, on the University Science Park, Durham, on October 16.