Scores of family doctors have signed a letter of protest calling on the Government to reduce their workload.

Members of the East Downs Primary Care Group - which covers Newhaven, Seaford, Hailsham, Horam and Pevensey - voted unanimously to send the letter to the media to publicise GPs' concerns.

More than 60 of the area's 84 GPs signed the letter as part of a nationally co-ordinated day of protest by doctors.

The letter was written by Dr David Hanraty, of the Bridgeside surgery in Western Road, Hailsham, on behalf of his colleagues in the East Downs area.

It says: "We will not be able to provide a satisfactory service in the future unless we are supported by the Government and we call upon you all to help us get a fair honest and workable service before the NHS grinds to a halt.

"We as GPs can no longer expand and increase our services and our paperwork in the absence of any new resources. We believe the failure of successive governments to accept this had led to a position where patient care will suffer.

"We believe in the NHS and are willing to stand up and be counted to protect our ability to carry out the fundamental tasks of patient care."

The average GP now has just eight minutes to see each patient and doctors claim they cannot deliver the necessary standards of care.

Across Britain, hundreds of family doctors were today closing their surgeries or working to rule.