HAMPSHIRE GPs are urging people to sign a petition calling for the Government to protect the NHS family doctor service.

More than 1,000 people across the county have already put their names to the Support Your Surgery' petition organised by doctors' union the British Medical Association.

The signatories include about 200 patients at The Gratton Surgery in Sutton Scotney, and 170 at St Paul's surgery in Winchester.

St Clement's and Friarsgate surgeries in the city centre, meanwhile, are not collecting signatures.

Participating GPs are asking patients to sign a birthday card for the NHS, which was founded 60 years ago, and will be presented to prime minister Gordon Brown tomorrow (Friday).

They fear traditional surgeries could be threatened if the government pushes ahead with plans for 250 new super surgeries, called polyclinics, possibly run by private firms.

The text accompanying the petition calls on the government to continue supporting existing GP surgeries.

It urges the government to stop plans to promote the use of commercial companies in general practice, because it "risks destabilising our local surgeries and threatens the high quality care we receive from our GPs".

It says signatories don't want public funding to move from GP practices to commercial companies who are "primarily accountable to shareholders, rather than patients".

Health minister Lord Darzi, in an interview with the Hampshire Chronicle last week, made clear the polyclinics were proposed for London only. He said it was "not a national blueprint" for primary care.

But Dr Nigel Watson, chief executive of Winchester-based Wessex Local Medical Committees, the body which represents 3,000 GPs in Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight, denied they were scaremongering.

Dr Watson said: "This is why our local campaign is about supporting your surgeries, rather than saving them.

"In our area there is no immediate threat of surgeries being closed. Our campaign is about informing patients about the government's drive to introduce the private sector and competition to general practice."

Every primary care trust has been asked to set up one GP-led health centre, combining several services under one roof.

The centres will be open seven days a week from 8am to 8pm to improve access to doctors.

Hampshire Primary Care Trust has chosen Basingstoke as the location for its new venture in 2009.

Private companies are already bidding for the multi-million pound contract.

Doctors fear the new "supermarket style surgeries" will divert NHS cash from existing practices, increase commercialisation, and threaten the quality and continuity of patient care.

Helen Clanchy, area director of commissioning for Hampshire Primary Care Trust, referring to the GP-led health centres, said: "We are going to see how this works as it is unlike anything else we have in Hampshire.

"There are some people who don't mind which doctor they see, just so long as they see someone."