A Formby councillor has vowed to take NHS England every step of the way over what she fears are plans to close down the Gores Lane based surgery.
Councillor Catie Page has now taken over leading a grassroots campaign to keep Freshfield Surgery open and says she is prepared to fight NHS England bosses to keep the practice operating on its current site.
A consultation over the future of the surgery is set to take place next month with the current surgery providers only contracted to ruin Freshfield until December 2017.
However an NHS England spokesperson has also blasted Cllr Page’s statement, saying that they have never once said they want to close the surgery.
Cllr Page is insisiting that NHS England conduct a genuine consultation of both patients and the wider community.
Cllr Page, who has an important role in defending health services as the chair of Sefton Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee of Adult Social Care & Health, first became aware of problems at the Gores Lane surgery when it was taken over by private provider SSP in 2014.
Problems
She immediately made NHS England aware of the growing problems and SSP were eventually removed from Freshfield and other Sefton practices after poor CQC reports in 2016.
Now Cllr Page is urging patients past and present, and other Formby residents, to respond to the consultation on the future of the practice which is only secured until December 2017.
Cllr Page said: “I went to NHS England three years ago due to the number of complaints I’d had regarding SSP’s running of Freshfield Surgery.
“I heard complaints of doctors refusing to visit patients at home, people turning up to the surgery and there being no GPs there and long waits for appointments. No wonder patients started to leave.
“Numbers at Freshfield surgery are rising again due to patient confidence in the practice returning since it was taken over by the Chapel Lane Surgery.”
A 13-week-long public consultation is due to take place at the end of March on the future of both Hightown Village Surgery and Freshfield Surgery – which are currently run by interim providers until next December.
The NHS commissioning group in charge of looking after both surgeries have said they are ‘looking into all viable options’ with regard to both sites but what will happen beyond the end of the year remains a mystery.
Anthony Leo, Director of Commissioning for NHS England, said: ‘We have never stated any intention to close Freshfield Surgery or Hightown Village Surgery. What we have done is made a commitment to look at all the options for the future delivery of GP services in those areas.
“Hearing the views of patients will be an essential part of that process and we will launch a six-week listening exercise in April so that we can understand the impact of any changes and hear patients’ own ideas about how GP services could be delivered in the future.
Stakeholders
“The views received from patients and wider stakeholders will be considered alongside a number of other factors when deciding the future of both practices. These include the likelihood of us being able to identify a future provider of services, the availability of transport to other practices and a survey of both premises to determine if they are suitable for providing medical services now and in the future.
“The next steps will be determined by the outcome of this initial listening exercise.
“If we decide to go out to the market to look for new providers and are successful there will be no need for further engagement.
“However, if we don’t feel this is a viable option it is likely we will develop options for formal consultation with patients and the wider community later in the year.”
Article originally published by Champion
