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GP services were described as an “utter shambles” this week as a surgery faces ­closure within days – with less than a month’s notice.Thousands of patients at Bingfield Street ­surgery in Barnsbury are being forced to re-register in already-heavily-oversubscribed ­surgeries across the borough.The Tribune reported last month how Dr Hannah Flinders, who runs the surgery, had been off work for almost a year. Patients received letters early this month explaining that the surgery is closing at the end of next week. It comes as patients have been warned that a second surgery in Canonbury is also closing. Ward councillor Paul Convery, who is executive member for community safety, said he was “very, very angry” with NHS England for the poor handling of the closures. “Patients are being treated in a cavalier way and are being redistributed throughout the area,” he said. “One local practice has had ­several hundred new registrations and the new patients appear quite troubled and alarmed.”Cllr Convery was particularly angry that the council had originally provided Bingfield Street surgery with land for the practice on the grounds that it would be used as a health centre.In a letter to patients, NHS England assistant head of primary care Alan Keane even quotes the Tribune story that Dr Flinders was leaving due to “personal reasons”. Mr Keane apologises for the short notice for the closure but says these are “exceptional circumstances.” Chairman of Islington Council’s health scrutiny committee Councillor Martin Klute said he could not understand why it had taken so long to sort out the Bingfield Street problems.“It’s an utter shambles but I understand there is another surgery at Bingfield Street, where some patients at least may transfer,” he said. Meanwhile, Mitchison Road Surgery, in Canonbury, is expected to close in July after more than 20 years.With the three GPs already struggling to cope and patients waiting weeks and sometimes months for non-urgent appointments, there are expected to be serious repercussions of the likely closure of the practice off Essex Road. One patient, Christian Clark, said: “We’ve been told the closure is going to happen but no one is saying where we will all be going. It’s all very unsettling.” Mr Clark believed the surgery was closing due to a problem with the high rent being asked for the building. “It will be no surprise to anyone that parts of Canonbury are extremely desirable and developers are starting to target the area,” he said.Health insiders have been warning for months that NHS England is under-funded and under-staffed and is struggling to cope with the new wave of GP closures in London. “Single-handed” surgeries – practices which have one main doctor – are closing and not being replaced. Instead, patients on the list are “dispersed” to nearby practices.The unofficial policy is a hangover from recommendations made by Lord Darzi when Labour was in government in 2008 that surgeries should be bundled together in health centres, or “polyclinics”, in a system that would be far cheaper for the NHS to run. A spokeswoman for NHS England (London) said: “Unfortunately, following the retirement of Dr Flinders, who has been unable to work for some time, the Bingfield Practice will close on Friday, May 29.“We have already written to patients to update them about the closure and have suggested they choose to register at one of the 13 GP practices nearby, who between them have space for around 14,000 additional patients in their catchment area. “We understand some patients will be saddened to hear their practice is closing but for legal reasons we are not able to transfer the contract to another GP and keep the practice open.”