Patients in an area of Liverpool have vowed not to give up the fight to protect their GP surgery, which is facing closure.
Under new proposals, in three months time Park View Medical Centre on Orphan Drive, Tuebrook, will close its doors to residents after the end of its contract with its current medical provider. In a letter seen by the ECHO, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said efforts had been made to find another provider to manage the practice, “but unfortunately this process has not been successful.”
Members of Park View patient participation group came together at Christ Church on Buckingham Road to discuss a way forward. Chair Jimmy Woods said the group would need “as much support as we can get” but vowed: “We need to have a go here, there’s plenty we can do to keep going.”
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Mr Woods said he felt the group and patients had been “disrespected” by the NHS and will write to the city’s integrated care board for further discussions. 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.
All registered patients will move to a different practice. This move was criticised by one of the attendees who spoke of a neighbour’s experience accessing medical services.
She said the users were “heartbroken” by the decision and Park View had been “their surgery all of their life.” It was claimed some patients “won’t know where to go, they can’t travel” and have been left in tears after the “lifeline has been taken away.”
Ms Ledward’s letter said issues were identified with the building in which Park View is located, which was rejected by Tuebrook Cllr Steve Radford. He said he felt the building was “perfectly fit for purpose” and claimed the integrated care board “haven’t got a plan to cope” with moving patients.
The efforts to keep the surgery open have been supported by the practice manager, Dina Faram. She told the gathered patients staff have gone “the extra mile” to help those in need and how it was “a shame” the location was slated for closure.
She described the surgery staff as “heroes” who have “always acted in patients’ best interests” and said given the chance, the surgery could improve the building and create jobs in the area.
Ms Faram said “people are passionate about this” adding: “Everyone we’ve seen is supportive of this and can’t see why they’re shutting it down, it’s unfair.”
A spokesperson from NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said: "NHS Cheshire and Merseyside has tried to find another provider to continue to manage Park View Medical Centre, but unfortunately no bidders were able to fully meet all of the necessary criteria, so the procurement process has not been successful. In addition to this, we have also been unable to resolve an estates issue related to the building that the GP practice is currently run from.
"The current owner of the building, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, has indicated a need to review its estates strategy and to consider the long-term viability of this site, and because of this can only offer access to the building to a new provider for a maximum of two years. This means that we are unable to ensure the long-term sustainability of the practice, even if another provider was able to be found in the short-term, because of this, we have made the difficult decision to close Park View Medical Centre at the end of July 2023, and to move all registered patients into other local GP practices.
"There are 10 other GP practices located at within a one mile radius of Park View Medical Centre, which are rated as ‘Good’ for their quality of patient care by the CQC - and we are already in discussion with those practices to organise the details of patients moving across to them. This includes providing additional funding to support those extra patients.
"We want to provide reassurance that no patients will be left without access to a GP practice as a result of this decision, and that ensuring patient continuity of care is at the core of this decision. We have already written to all registered patients at the practice to inform them about this situation, and to explain what will happen next – as well as how they can share any questions or comments they might have about it with us.
"We will write to patients again soon to let them know which local GP practice they will be transferring to - although they will also still be able to choose a different one if they would prefer. When they are moved, all of their medical records will be automatically transferred too – which means that they don’t need to do anything themselves."
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