An NHS walk-in centre used by 20,000 people a year faces closure due to financial difficulties.

Barnet’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is discussing whether to renew the contract for the walk-in facility at The Cricklewood GP Health Centre, at Britannia Business Village.

The contract is due to end in June, and in a report to Barnet Borough Council’s health scrutiny committee on Monday, the CCG, which commissions health services in the borough, argued the majority of cases seen at the  centre could be seen by GPs.

The CCG says that it “is facing significant financial challenges”, and that it needs to start reducing duplication of services.

The report also said: “Patients often do not understand where they need to go and can get passed from one service to another. This can result in a patient going to two or three places to seek advice or care – the NHS can pay from two to five times the cost compared with simply booking a GP appointment.”

However, a survey of patients attending the walk-in centre last year found that 57 per cent went there because they were unable to get an appointment with their GP.

A spokesman for Barnet CCG said: “Discussions are being held with NHS England, which commissions GP services, and the clinicians who provide the service at the site, about options for the future of this service. No decision has yet been made.

"A key factor to these discussions is also knowing what our patients think about unplanned care and we are planning to engage with local residents to discuss their needs around access to these services.”

Councillor Barry Rawlings, Labour’s health spokesman, said the proposal was "incredibly short sighted", and would put pressure on NHS services in the borough.

He said: “Cricklewood is an area with a high concentration of private renters so the population is transient and is also set to increase dramatically because of the regeneration of the area.

“Closing this health facility under these circumstances would be incredibly short sighted, especially given the shortage of GP services and the pressure on A&E.

“This would be the second walk-in clinic to close locally after the closure of the East Finchley service, and it’s no good saying they can go to Finchley Memorial walk-in centre – that is only a walk-in centre after three bus journeys.”

A report with details of the consultation will be brought back to a future health scrutiny committee meeting.