STUNNED patients of a Huddersfield GP have been told: Find another doctor.

Letters have gone out to 194 people and their families.

Some of them have been patients at The Triangle surgery, Paddock, for decades.

Now they've been told they will be 'automatically removed' from the books of Dr Matthew Boulton and Dr Paul Culliney in just 30 days.

Health chiefs say they all live too far away from the surgery and should find doctors that are nearer their homes.

They deny the cut-off point is abrupt, saying unless they impose it, patients are unlikely to take action.

It's up to them to find another doctor.

Peter and Muriel Mellor (pictured), of Leeds Road, just 2.3 miles away from Paddock, got the letter from Huddersfield Central NHS Primary Care Trust.

The couple, who are on are on medication for high blood pressure, arthritis and asthma, insist they don't want to move from the surgery they know and feel comfortable at.

Muriel, 71, who was brought up in Paddock, has been a patient at The Triangle since she was born. Peter, 70, has been on the doctors' books for the past 50 years.

Muriel says: "It was a bolt from the blue. We haven't slept well since we got this letter. And it seems there's no right to appeal. It's so abrupt. A new doctor won't know us, it would be a big upheaval."

Peter adds: "I'm waiting for a knee operation and I'm worried this could affect my place in the queue."

Kath Basnett, director of patient experience for the trust, said the "re-zoning" was taking place because people who live in Paddock had been unable to register as patients, and therefore were being "deprived".

Mr Mellor says: "There's another doctor's in Paddock, the Speedwell surgery. Why can't new residents go there?"

The trust says no other surgeries are presently involved in such a re-shuffle.

Kath Basnett said: "The 194 people that the letters have been sent out to are only a small proportion of the practice's 4,234 patients."

The true number could be higher, as Mr and Mrs Mellor received only one letter for both of them.

It included a list of all other GPs within the Huddersfield central area - including some, such as Golcar - that are actually further away from Paddock.

People who need help finding a doctor, or want to discuss the move, should ring 01484 342128 or 01484 466103.

DR Bharat Bhasin, chairman of the Local Medical Committee, said patients living away from a practice's immediate vicinity caused extra work.

Home visits particularly, he said, were time-consuming.

Dr Bhasin added: "This is a reasonable request, a standard letter. I don't believe it is abrupt.

"I've already been through a reorganisation like this. My practice is at Milnsbridge and when I took it over 15 years ago I found patients were all over - Deighton, Dalton, Brighouse, Holmfirth. It's very difficult to give a good service if your patients are all over town. It's much better if they are nearer.

"Doctors are busier than ever. In the time it takes to visit one person further away, you could see three locally."