A GP PRACTICE at Bordon is reducing its opening hours on three afternoons a week from next month (February) as a one-year temporary solution to a recruitment problem.

The number of GPs working for the Riverside Partnership, which incorporates the Woolmer Surgery (Bordon) and Riverside Kelsey (Liss), has reduced from five to four following the departure of Dr Laura Hems, who worked solely at Woolmer.

Attempts to replace Dr Hems during the last three months have so far been unsuccessful – reflecting a national problem in GP recruitment which has hit hard in some parts of the country.

The Partnership has applied to both NHS England and NHS South Eastern Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group, as the local commissioners of GP services, to close from 2pm onwards on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for 12 months to get around the problem.