Southampton Conservative councillors have joined the fight against the closure of Bitterne Walk-In Centre

Conservative leader Jeremy Moulton says the opposition will join party MP Royston Smith in fighting plans that could see the facility shut next year.

The plans to close the facility were brought back to life by the Southampton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) earlier this year having originally been proposed last year.

The health body says closing the centre would allow it to “spend its limited resources where they will have the greatest impact”.

But the plans have again proven controversial with campaigners and politicians alike arguing it could leave residents on the eastern side of the city short-changed when it comes to out of hours health services.

Consultation on the plans will run until Friday when the CCG will decide the fate of the service. The other health services at the site will remain unaffected by any closure of the walk-in service.

Cllr Jeremy Moulton

Labour council chiefs say they do not want the facility to close unless there are adequate permanent out of hours services elsewhere in the city.

The new Conservative MP for Southampton Itchen Royston Smith, who campaigned on the issue in the run-up to the General Election, said he would fight the closure.

He has criticised West Hampshire CCG for not paying a share of the £1.3 million annual running cost, with 34 per cent of the residents using it living in the Eastleigh area as opposed to Southampton.

Cllr Moulton, who was recently voted to succeed Mr Smith as leader of the opposition, said his group would also oppose the move, saying: “The view is that this is part of the mix of out of hours services for people in the city and if you take it away you are reducing the ability to go to a GP surgery for people that can’t get there during the working day.

“This flies directly in the face of government policy which is for a seven-day NHS. If we had proper out-of-hours GPS then you could make the case that it is duplicating services, but it isn’t."

“I think they need to get those services in place first then the need to see if there is a duplication but until that happens this will be a step backwards.”

Labour city council leader Simon Letts, pictured below, said his party’s position was two-fold, saying: “Firstly we deplore the in-year cuts to our CCG’s budget, which could mean we have to cut services.

“Secondly our view is that the Bitterne walk-in centre should stay open until such a time as out of hours services are available in the city on the permanent basis."

“That means that if your child is ill you can take them to a GP surgery out of hours to get them treated.”