A CUDDINGTON pensioner has added his support to a campaign to stop the closure of his local surgery.

90-year-old Dennis Hough has lived in the area for most of his life and told of how he was the first baby delivered by one of Sandiway Surgery's original doctors back in March of 1930.

Mr Hough said the application made by Danebridge Medical Centre to NHS Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to close the surgery was 'wrong' and that it 'simply shouldn't be shutting'.

He said: "It's wrong that they should even be thinking of closing it.

"There's so many people around here who rely on that surgery.

"I'm not the most mobile on my feet these days, and since I stopped driving a good few years ago, I use a mobility scooter to get there which is fine, but I obviously won't be able to get down to Northwich on it."

Northwich Guardian:

Dennis said he supports the campaign to save Sandiway surgery

Mr Hough said he would most likely have to rely on lifts or taxi's to attend appointments in the future and went on to say the decision to close the surgery had clearly been made without thinking of the consequences for those who need it most.

He added: "There's a lot of people my age in Sandiway, or around about my age anyway.

"They all feel the same as me about the news to close it.

"It's just all a bit hopeless really, as getting taxi's to and from a surgery will cost a fair bit of money as well."

Mr Hough said he has fond memories of some of the doctors who have served the villages over the years and how his uncle was once employed as the driver for a Dr Warburton, who brought Dennis into the world.

He went on: "Dr Warburton always told me that I was the first baby he delivered after he joined Dr Sinclair at the surgery in 1930.

"There was another doctor who joined some time later, his name was Dr August.

"I remember my Dad being ill one day, and he wasn't ill very often, and Dr August came to say him, and in those days, they'd just knock on the door and come straight in.

"He went straight upstairs to my Dad, and my Dad told me he just chucked his bag on the bed and sat down and said, 'you know Alan, I've just been mistaken for the vet'.

"He'd gone to a house, walked in and could hear someone scrabbling around in the kitchen and when he'd asked 'where is she?' was told 'under the table in a basket'."

Mr Hough, who worked for many years as a driver, picking up and delivering static homes, went on to say how he has enjoyed close to 30 years of retirement, but that 'it's gone along in no time'.

He added: "There's not a lot else you can say about the surgery really, other than, it just shouldn't be shutting."

The Save Sandiway Surgery Action Group, which was formed in December 2019 with the objective of keeping the surgery open and has the full backing of Cuddington Parish Council and the borough councillors for that area, has around 900 signatures of support already from patients.