Fears that cash-strapped GP practices in Pembrokeshire could face cuts – or even closure – have led to a call to patients to back a petition calling for a Welsh Government rescue package.

The petition, organised by the BMA Cymru’s Save Our Surgeries campaign, already has more than 15,000 signatures.

But local doctors and politicians feel that more awareness of the campaign is needed to provide even further emphasis and stave off cuts that would impact on surgeries.

“We need to get the word out there about the dire state of affairs in primary care, with chronic underfunding, difficulty in recruitment and staff retention, and the stress we are all under,” said Dr Chun Kit Poh, GP Partner at Haverfordwest’s Winch Lane Surgery.

“Practices are closing in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, with surgeries handing back their contracts to the health board, resulting in a service staffed by ad-hoc locum GPs, and - in the worst case scenario - patients being dispersed, which affected patients in Solva and Johnston.

“We fear that our patients will lose the continuity of care that they have come to expect.

"Services are at risk of being cut, with longer waiting times, if the Welsh Assembly Government is unable to commit to serious, tangible funding support for GPs across Wales, to at least meet the funding increase in England (6 per cent) and Scotland (6.5 per cent).

Saundersfoot Medical Centre, which has nearly 10,000 patients, says that the Welsh Government funding it currently receives - £111.40 per patient per year – is ‘insufficient’ for it to carry on providing its current range of services.

This has led to the practice "having to make difficult decisions that will affect the level of service we can deliver to our patients," it has posted on Facebook.

"If the situation doesn’t improve, we fear the surgery will close and the services we provide will be lost, and in a rural community such as ours there are limited alternative services to rely on or to replace us," the post added.

The surgery’s call to patients to sign the petition is being echoed by Pembrokeshire County Councillor Alistair Cameron.

The member for the Kilgetty and Begelly ward said: “We all know how stretched our local GP services are.

“This is not surprising when you consider that the percentage of NHS funding in Wales spent on general practice has fallen by 30% since 2005 from 8.7 per cent to 6.1per cent, and yet at the same time, the services provided by the local practice have increased.

“We all know that the NHS is under severe pressure at present. GP services are a vital part of the NHS and they are the service that most of us come into contact with regularly to stay in good health.

“So far over 15,000 have signed this petition which means that it will go to the Senedd’s Petitions Committee to be considered for a debate in the Senedd.

"However, I want a lot more people to sign this petition which is open for signatures until 2 February. I suspect many are unaware of this petition.

"I am really worried that if there is not a rescue package for our GPs then we will see services cut."

You can sign the petition by going to https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/245944