People in Waltham Abbey fighting to keep a popular surgery have said they will go all the way to the top to overturn the decision to close it by the PCT.

The patients of the Sun Street Surgery in Waltham Abbey said they were furious that they were not given a say in its closure, announced after their popular GP, Dr Lakha, decided to retire after a spell of ill health.

All of his 2,600 patients have been told that they will have to move to one of five other surgeries, which they fear will not be able to cope.

Despite a heated public meeting where several alternative suggestions were made by patients earlier this month, West Essex PCT decided to push ahead with its decision to close.

But campaigners say it is far from over yet and are in the process of drafting a letter to Secretary of State for Health Andy Burnham MP in the hope that he will look into the decision made by NHS West Essex.

Mrs Joan Walsh said: "The PCT just obviously are not interested in our views, so we're taking it further, we've said before that we will take it to Europe if they continue to ignore us."

"Our surgery closes on Wednesday, we don't expect to keep it as it was but we certainly want to keep the same doctors."

"We've been looking at the number of doctors in Waltham Abbey compared to the population, at this rate there will be one doctor to every 2,600 people, how are they going to cope? what if one of them is ill? It clearly hasn't been thought through."

NHS West Essex chief executive Aidan Thomas said: "We are conscious of the strength of feeling that exists in Waltham Abbey regarding the Sun Street Surgery and the dedicated service provided by Dr Lakha over many years." "We have explained to patients registered with Dr Lakha that they need to register with another practice and have given them details of five practices in the area, all of which are accepting new patients."

"It was suggested at the meeting that we could grant a six-month 'stay of execution' to the practice but this is not practical, partly because the PCT has no access to premises and also because the existing contract for the practice expires."

"This proposal would also incur additional costs which we believe are better spent on healthcare in the area. For these reasons we are continuing with the plans for the surgery to close from 1 July."