"Closure of Village Doctor's Surgery"

We have recently been informed that our local Doctor's surgery (High Bickington) will close in August this year.  Options given to residents are:  stay with associated  Health Centre (8.5 miles away) with no available transport other than car. Or join another centre (also 8.5 miles away) also with no transport services to that address.  Our village has one bus a day, leaving at 10.14 am and returning at 13.55 - destination Barnstaple.  Our health center suggests we ask a friend or relative to drive anyone who needs a face-to-face appointment with a doctor.  Our friends are quite elderly (75-85 years), some cannot drive anymore, some have health issues and are not able to drive.  There are over a thousand residents that will be affected by this change, we will also have to drive 8.5 miles to pick up any prescriptions as there will be no premises to collect from locally. 

When we had the flu vaccinations last autumn, around 600 residents had to drive 8.5 miles (if they doubled up for the car journey).  That added up to approx 11,000 miles.  The Health Center is suggesting it isn't viable keeping the surgery open, as there is no parking and no disabled ramp into the surgery.  We have a new Community Center within the village, plenty of parking, disabled ramps, heating, and not used to capacity, perfect for a Doctor's Surgery and available to hundreds of residents..   I cannot believe that the recent survey given to a few residents to complete showed agreement for this plan.