THE Tories were accused of scaremongering yesterday, when they claimed plans for giant “polyclinics” will force Mersey patients to travel up to 2.4 miles to see their GP.

They unveiled figures suggesting the super-surgeries – bringing together up to 25 GPs, pharmacies and minor surgery under one roof – would treble the distance to the nearest family doctor.

The average Liverpool patient would be forced to travel 1.6 miles for an appointment, compared to just 0.5 miles now, the Tories claimed.

And the distances would be even longer in Wirral (2.1 miles), Sefton (2.2 miles), Knowsley (2.3 miles) and St Helens (2.4 miles) – and in West Lancashire (3.3 miles) and Chester (4.3 miles).

But the analysis was quickly dismissed as nonsense by the Government.

Gordon Brown said: “This is completely wrong and is an ill- founded allegation.

“There are 5,000 more general practitioners than there were 10 years ago, so the number of GPs is not falling.”