WEEKLY branch surgeries held in Wickwar and Hawkesbury Upton by two Wotton-under-Edge based GP practices will be discontinued due to insufficient facilities.
Applications from The Chipping Surgery and Culverhay Surgery to close their branch surgeries at Wickwar and Hawkesbury Upton were approved by NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group on Thursday, January 28.
Doctors from the practices emphasised that their priority to provide a high standard of care was not feasible at the venues of the two branch surgeries.
Senior partner at The Chipping Surgery Dr Jonathan Kabler said: “This application was not made lightly and followed careful consideration and exploration of other possible solutions.
“However, it was clear that these premises cannot support the provision of high quality care, which is what we want for all of our patients.”
Both practices use the same branch surgery premises to provide one-day-a-week hour-long services at Wickwar, in Avon Crescent Community Centre, and Hawkesbury Upton, in Bethesda Congregational Chapel.
The main reason for closure is the poor quality of the two premises for providing a high standard of care. Neither have examination facilities, there is insufficient space for nursing support, lack of disabled access to rooms and no IT services.
A study conducted over a six month period showed there was an average of four patient attendances a week in Wickwar for both the Culverhay and Chipping branch surgeries. In Hawekebury Upton the average was two.
GP at Culverhay Surgery Dr Richard Probert said: “Patient care is our top priority at the end of the day and this was the key factor in consulting our patients over this change.
“We have reached a point where the branch surgery buildings are just not fit for modern healthcare and cannot fully support the high quality of care we strive to provide.
“Whilst only a small number of our patients use the branch surgery services, we do recognise that this will be a change for them and we want to support them in any way we can.”
The CCG will now discuss arrangements for the branch surgery closures with the practices, including agreeing suitable dates for the changes. Patient communication is underway.
Wickwar is just over four miles from Wotton-under-Edge while Hawkesbury Upton is close to five.
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