MORE than 50 people turned out to express their concerns about the imminent closure of a health centre that will leave more than 4,000 patients without a doctor.

Marske Medical Centre is due to close its doors at the end of June after NHS South Tees Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) failed to attract a tender to run the service.

Anna Turley, the Redcar Labour MP, has already written to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to ask him to “step in urgently”.

And residents affected by the closure are calling for more information from the CCG about the details of the proposed tender to take over at the busy centre.

Vic Jeffries, who is a former Redcar and Cleveland borough councillor, said he wants to know how the tendering process failed to attract a single bid.

“I have been with this surgery most of my life and there are many people in the area who are exactly the same,” he said. “We need to know how they came to the figures for the tender because in my eyes they simply don’t add up.”

Patients were first hit by uncertainty after private healthcare provider Danum Medical Services Limited, which ran the practice, went into administration last March.

A contract with South Tees Medical Ltd to provide GP and nursing services at the Hall Close premises was secured until May this year but they are not carrying on with the contract.

Earlier this month when the decision was announced the centre was to close, a spokesperson for the CCG said that the priority is to ensure registered patients have access to alternative primary health care serviced.

Ms Turley said: “People are quite rightly upset and worried about the centre’s closure. I have already raised concerns with the health secretary and I am awaiting a response.”

Affected patients received a letter two weeks ago with details of other nearby practice, it read: “We would like to apologise to those patients affected by the closure and any inconvenience that the closure will cause them. The CCG appreciates that this can be a distressing time for patients. We can assure them that they can continue to access high quality health care services by registering with a nearby practice.”