Community leaders and patients have vowed not to take the closure of their GP surgery “lying down” in a show of strength against proposals that could impact thousands of people.
Park View Medical Centre in Tuebrook is scheduled to close its doors in two months' time at the end of its contract with its current medical provider. In a letter seen by the ECHO, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside integrated care board (ICB) earlier this year said efforts had been made to find another provider to manage the practice, “but unfortunately this process has not been successful.”
In a bid to keep the practice open, a patient participation group (PPG) was formed and convened a public meeting at Christ Church on Buckingham Road to discuss a way forward and voice their opposition to the plans.
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Around 70 people gathered alongside politicians from across the city including Ian Byrne, Labour MP for West Derby, Cllr Liam Robinson, the newly elected leader of Liverpool Council, as well as ward members Cllrs Steve Radford, Billy Lake and Joe Dunne. PPG chair Jimmy Woods said the GP surgery “belongs to the community” and they would fight to keep it open.
He said: “It’s about the future of our surgery which has been going for six decades and we want to keep it going for another six decades.” Mr Woods paid tribute to the efforts of PPG members who had “been out with petitions and posters and played a magnificent job, sometimes at the sacrifice of family and friends.”
The practice contract, held by Dr Jude’s Group Practice, ended on March 31 and in a letter seen by the ECHO, Jan Ledward, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside place director, said the practice has been earmarked for sale after no new provider could be found and concerns had been raised about the condition of the building, with all registered patients to be moved to different practices.
MP Ian Byrne said the public meeting would show the strength of feeling within Tuebrook. He said: “This meeting will show the ICB and authorities we’re not taking this laying down.
“Not for one minute does anyone believe that if you shut a GP surgery and put additional pressure on other surgeries will we get a better service, that’s absolute nonsense. We need to keep this incredible service in the community.
“We’re not going to accept this without a fight, let’s give it a bloody good go, let’s stick together and let’s keep that surgery open. Cllr Robinson said while the city council has no input on the control of the NHS, “we want to make sure we can use the council to show our concern about what’s going on here.
He added: “We want to show how cherished this surgery is and how it needs to remain.”
Liberal Party group leader, Cllr Radford, accused the ICB of shortchanging working class communities like Tuebrook and said he had concerns that the 2,800 served by the surgery would not be able to access adequate care elsewhere and would put additional pressure on other medical centres.
He said: “We’re fighting for every surgery in the community because every surgery will suffer if this closes.” His group colleague and Tuebrook Larkhill ward member, Cllr Billy Lake, said: “We’ve seen this before, we’ve fought it before and we’ll fight it again.”
The efforts to keep the surgery open have been supported by the practice manager, Dina Faram. She said it was “sad” what staff and patients had been put through but her team had continued to work hard to serve the community.
Ms Faram added how she felt there was “absolutely no reason” for the practice to be shut down and patients and staff had been left to feel like they don’t matter and were left needing answers. Mr Byrne confirmed he would meet with ICB representatives next week and would report back to the PPG on how they can move forward.
A judicial review into the decision by NHS Merseyside and Cheshire is also expected to go ahead.
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