THE provider of skincare clinics across Essex pulled the plug on its service with just a few days notice.

Concordia Specialist Care Services Ltd had been providing a dermatology service at various hospitals and clinics for two years.

In October it was announced NHS bosses had axed Concordia’s contract due to medication delays and the contract was due to end in July.

However the private company wrote to the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (NEECCG) with less than one week of notice saying they would no longer be able to provide the service due to the company ceasing trading from May 14.

It left the CCG and the East Suffolk and North Essex Trust, which manages Colchester Hospital, in the dark.

The hospital trust was due to take over the service in July.

The trust and CCG managed to come up with a plan to make sure patients continue to receive medication and undergo surgery, however a number of operations were cancelled at short notice.

One patient, who wished to remain anonymous, said she had her dermatology operation cancelled just three days in advance.

She said: “I was due to have the surgery on Saturday but was told on Wednesday it had been cancelled and someone would call me back.

“I called the hospital where I was due to have the surgery and they said they didn’t run the service any more.

“I called the Patient Advice and Liaison Service a number of times and they couldn’t say much, there has been no direct contact with me.”

Concordia was running clinics at Abbey Field Medical Centre in Colchester, Tollgate Surgery in Stanway, Colchester Hospital, Creffield Medical Centre in Colchester, Clacton & District Hospital and Fryatt Hospital in Dovercourt.

A spokesman for the CCG said: “As the trust was due to take over the dermatology contract in July we have been able to work quickly and collaboratively with the trust and our primary care colleagues to agree an eight-week caretaker service.

“Teams from across organisations have been working closely on a daily basis to ensure a safe and seamless service transition takes place.”

The hospital trust said all dermatology patients will be contacted by June 7 and operations will be rescheduled.

Mike Lilley (Lab), Colchester councillor responsible for wellbeing who has had a benign growth himself, said the service was vital for keeping people alive.

He said: “Services like this need to be run by the NHS. It’s crazy private organisations can just fold like that and the service is handed over to the underfunded NHS.”

The Gazette tried to contact Concordia for a comment.