PENSIONER Len Cummings is foregoing treatment for high-blood pressure because he claims it takes him hours to get to his 'local' surgery.

The 70-year-old said he was not prepared to embark on the trip to the Calcot Medical Centre, Hampden Road, Chalfont St Peter, because a round trip by bus might take up to five hours.

Mr Cummings, who lives in Gaviots Way, Gerrards Cross, should be checked every month for a high-blood pressure problem diagnosed six years ago when he was admitted into hospital for hernia treatment.

But he said a regular journey to the surgery was not possible because he does not drive and the bus service to Chalfont St Peter only operates once every hour-and-a-half.

He added: "I don't drive and unless my wife takes me I can't get to the surgery any other way unless I take a taxi or call out an ambulance.

"I should take tablets for my high-blood pressure and visit the doctor routinely but I don't bother because it is just too much trouble."

But a survey by Buckinghamshire Health Authority 18 months ago found the majority of residents in Gerrards Cross did not need a doctors' surgery on their doorstep.

Jennifer Woolveridge, of Gerrards Cross Age Concern, who pressed for the research, was disappointed by the findings but said she would continue to campaign for a nurse-led practice in the village.

She added: "Most of the people who live here are not elderly and it is difficult for them to see into the future and imagine themselves in the position of someone who is unable to drive."

And residents at a parish appraisal meeting at the Gerrards Cross Memorial Centre on January 26 continued to lobby for improved medical facilities in the village.

Vice chairman of the parish council, Gillian Underwood, said: "There are many elderly people and people with small children who have no car and it is terribly difficult for them to get to the doctor."

The parish council have set up two working groups to look at the possibility of securing support from Chiltern and South Bucks Primary Care Group for a nurses' surgery in Gerrards Cross or to improve transport for patients to Chalfont St Peter.

February 14, 2002 13:38