A public meeting will bring users of a popular surgery face to face with NHS bosses who are trying to shut it down.

The meeting to discuss the future of the Sun Street Surgery in Waltham Abbey will take place at the Marriot Hotel in Waltham Abbey tomorrow (Wednesday June 17) from 7:30pm.

Some of the 2,600 people listed in the surgeries books are expected to turn up for a showdown with NHS West Essex bosses who they say are closing the surgery purely due to financial reasons.

In a letter to patients, Leigh Fleming, director of corporate services for NHS West Essex said: "I am aware that locum doctors have suggested they may be willing to take over the practice but the doctors involved have their own practice in Hertfordshire and will be aware that NHS rules state we cannot just give the practice to them and that it must be advertised for everyone to be able to apply."

"The Grade 2 listed building, which is leased to Dr Lakha and not owned by the PCT, is in need of repair and modernisation as it does not meet current Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) requirements."

"GP practices are independent businesses which employ their own staff and any new practitioner would have to find the considerable investment needed to bring the premises up to modern standards. There is very little room for expansion to offer more or enhanced services and refurbishment would be restricted due to the listing status."

"We have written to all the practice’s patients explaining the situation and given them contact information for five GP surgeries in the immediate Waltham Abbey area which are all accepting new patients."

But Mrs Kim Ashley, from the Waltham Abbey Patients Forum said the PCT could do more to help.

She said: "When I first got the letter I rang the PCT. I said that they had not come to any of the patient forum meetings, and then we sent them a petition with 600 names and we wrote a letter that was copied and asked them to respond, then we got this letter about the meeting."

"They told us we have a choice of four other surgeries, but all of those GP's have small catchment areas, this surgery has 2,600 people on its books and they are going to build a large elderly care home in Waltham Abbey for 96 people , the town is expanding, but we're not getting any more support.

She added that she would be putting her thoughts to PCT bosses at the meeting, saying: "Its not just about the doctors, its about the practice as a whole - the patients and the other staff too."

"The staff there know us so well, we're not going to get the saame level of service from these new places- they're going to be so busy and they won't have time to go through all our notes."

"The patients want the PCT to allow the surgery to stay open with a new GP. It's down to money, they haven't even put it out to tender, it might take a bit of time but so what?"

The Guardian will be covering the meeting live on Wednesday on this website.