I HAVE to take a brisk 20-minute walk to the village to reach the, now to close, Lacock surgery.

If I then have to catch a bus, I must allow an extra 10 minutes just in case the bus arrives early. Providing you can catch the driver's attention, you can shelter from the weather on the other side of the road. In very bad weather it has been known for the bus to bypass the village due to snow or ice on Cantax Hill.

The journey to the Spa Medical Centre involves using two buses, thus increasing the time and cost of travelling. As the bus from Lacock is an hourly service, trying to synchronise the two buses and your appointment time is a hit or miss affair, especially as doctors are liable to be late in seeing you. This could well result in you seeing the bus to Lacock travelling away from you in the centre of Melksham, leaving you with poor shelter from the weather and a solid hour to wait for the next one.

So my visit to the doctor, who may well have told me to go home and keep warm and take the tablets, will have taken me four hours from leaving home to returning.

To face that with a poorly child, possibly with a baby in a pram as well, beggars belief. That mother has no choice but to make that journey, but in making it she may well have spent the money she had put aside for a meal. Buses are not a cheap means of transport.

When my wife and I are no longer able to drive I really worry how we will cope with the situation.

On the front page of a large newsletter published by the West Wilts PCT, highlighted are two statements from which the following has been extracted: Our Mission Statement. 'West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust is dedicated to continually improving the health and well-being of the people it serves in the community.' Etc etc. Shiena Bowen, the chair, states: "We are listening to their views and responding."

Not once have I heard a response from them about our grave concerns, that tells me they have listened to us. Contrary to that, we have heard a lot of why the surgery must close. Both the other Wiltshire PCTs totally opposed the closure along with the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

We were never consulted, other than a letter that was sent to all the patients in the Lacock catchment, announcing their decision to close the surgery and to invite us to a meeting in the village hall. That meeting, the only one we have had with them, was chaired by the PCT and it was made quite plain the closure was because the premises were unsuitable under the government's latest rulings, and nothing else. Since then they have turned down all offers by the National Trust to provide them with suitable new premises without even looking at them. Seemingly, according to the PCT, nothing would be suitable in the village.

As we already use the Spa Centre for treatment, making a big issue about it being available is irrelevant, Lacock Surgery has always been a consulting room with

dispensing facilities.

Stating that feedback from the letter was welcomed just isn't true. We are up in arms over the whole sad saga. The PCT has also stated that Melksham Town Council has backed the closure. Why? What the devil has it got to do with them?

It is rather puzzling that the doctors are prepared to continue driving past the village to treat the students at Lackham College after stating that keeping our surgery open wastes a lot of the time they have available to care for their patients.

C Perkins,

Lacock