MANAGERS at a Headington health centre are reassuring patients their doctors' surgery is expanding and here to stay.

Bury Knowle Health Centre in London Road and Marston Medical Centre in Cherwell Drive merged in July.

The Marston Medical Centre premises is due to close and the building is now up for sale.

Its patients are expected to transfer to a new premises at Northway Community Centre in April, while Bury Knowle will remain the same.

Bury Knowle Health Centre manager Stuart MacFarlane said: "Bury Knowle is not moving anywhere.

"By working together we have saved Marston Medical Centre from closure, protected access to GP care in Marston, and also added to the range of medical and nursing services on offer.

"Marston Medical Centre has become our third branch surgery, adding to our local branches in Barton and Wood Farm.

"Patients from any of our sites can access a wider range of nursing and GP services at our Bury Knowle site, including same-day access to urgent appointments, at the same time having the choice to see their usual doctor at their traditional practice.

"We thank all staff for their dedication, commitment and hard work for patients."

After Bury Knowle Health Centre and Marston Medical Centre merged staff from the two centres have been working closely with each other.

Marston Medical Centre practice manager Fiona Jefferies said: "With Marston Medical Centre joining Bury Knowle Health Centre it is now possible to deliver the high-level patient care and services that the team at Marston Medical Centre has been striving towards.

"Patients will now be able to gain access to many more services that a small medical centre is not able to provide on its own, for example our patients now have access to same-day minor illness clinics and the benefit of GPs running their own patient lists.

"Marston Medical Centre's patients have been extremely understanding during a period of uncertainty and change.

"But we are now in a position to develop our services, and these can only improve further with the proposed move to a new practice within the new Northway Community Centre."

Last week Dr Paul Roblin, chief executive officer of Bucks, Berks and Oxon Local Medical Committee, warned that the family GP cold soon become a thing of the past in Oxfordshire due to a lack of funding.

He issued the warning at the Oxfordshire health overview and scrutiny committee where residents protested against a draft 'sustainability and transformation plan', which recommends moving some acute services away from the John Radcliffe and Horton hospitals.

Deer Park Medical Centre in Witney is due to close in March and when it does 4,400 patients will be moved to different surgeries in the area.

Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group said earlier it was being forced to close the surgery because, when it put the service out to tender, no one came forward with a business plan that met its standards.