IT is with regret that I have had to resort to writing to the Gazette but at the moment there seems no real alternative.

On February 25 I attended a public board meeting of the Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust.

I went to Marlborough after work because I am growing increasingly alarmed at the situation facing patients registered at Dr B J Williams' surgery in Chippenham.

Barbara Smith, the chief executive of the PCT, has issued a formal notice of termination of his personal medical services contract, which provides money from the NHS, from April 1.

I wanted to know what provision the PCT was making for the 3,580 patients who are affected by this decision.

Mrs Smith refused to answer my question, merely stating that Dr Williams is in breach of contract not proven yet Mrs Smith, where did you study the law?

Mrs Smith doesn't seem to have taken on board the fact that, while she and her quango of bureaucrats are playing power games with the taxpayers' money, I as a health professional (I am the practice nurse) cannot reassure the patients currently registered that they will be receiving care from this surgery from that date.

I cannot plan their care, make future appointments etc, beyond that date because I don't know if I will still have a job then and if they will still be registered with Dr Williams.

So, I have to use your paper to ask again, Mrs Smith, what arrangements are you going to make in the next four weeks to ensure that patients can still expect the same excellent levels of care that they currently receive?

Forcing Dr Williams to liquidate his practice due to unprecedented bills for out of hours service, foisting 3,580 patients on to already over-stretched Chippenham GPs will result in longer appointment delays for all residents of Chippenham and an inevitable reduction of quality of care in this town.

Isn't that what your PCT is employed to avoid Mrs Smith? The clock is ticking, what are you going do?

BRIDGET HOLLAND

Marshfield Road Surgery

Chippenham