NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has taken the decision to extend its formal public consultation about proposed changes to GP ‘hubs’ for an additional six weeks.
Rather than finishing on the December 19, the consultation will now run until Wednesday, January 30.
All information gathered during the extended period will be fed into the overall consultation. The CCG will also be linking into existing community groups to gain further feedback on their proposals and wants to urge people to complete the survey at www.haveasay.org.uk.
The GP ‘hubs’ are GP Practices or groups of practices working together offering additional appointments after 6pm on weekdays and additional appointments on a weekend.
Following public consultation about urgent care services in 2016, the CCG introduced nine new ‘extended primary care hubs’ across the area on April 1, 2017.
It was agreed at the time to review the service after six and 12 months which involved engaging with members of the public and local GPs. The review highlighted that the ‘hubs’ were valued but were significantly underused, with the appointments being made available being double the national requirement.
The CCG wants to hear people’s views about their recommendation to deliver the extended primary care service from a reduced number of hubs located in;
- Bishop Auckland (Dales area)
- Spennymoor/Newton Aycliffe and Sedgefield (Sedgefield area)
- Peterlee/Seaham (Easington area)
Dr Stewart Findlay, Chief Officer, NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield CCG said, ‘We have listened to feedback from local people and believe we need to extend the consultation to allow more people to have their say.
‘We need to change the service and deliver it in a different way that we believe could be better for patients. We have some really positive ideas about how we can improve the service and want more time for conversation to continue. We want your views about how a mobile service including home visits for housebound patients in rural areas would work best. Do we need to improve patient transport? Would being able to book an appointment into a GP hub in advance help if you work shifts? All ideas are welcome and I would encourage you to complete the survey.’
The CCG is urging people to get involved and complete an online survey at www.haveasay.org.uk or if they require a hard copy can collect one from a number of local community venues such as GP practices, libraries and also from NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield CCG who are based at Sedgefield Community Hospital.
This article originally appeared on East Durham News
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