Gosport council leader issues plea to NHS for Bury Road Surgery to be kept open

A council leader has urged the NHS to reconsider its decision to close Bury Road Surgery in Gosport.

The Integrated Care Board for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight said the small surgery in Gosport will close following the resignation of the GP partner, Dr Carl Anandan.

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Councillor Peter Chegwyn, leader of Gosport Borough Council has raised fears over where patients will go after the surgery is closed down.

He said: ‘4,500 patients are affected and they overwhelmingly don’t want it to close neither do the staff so I’m going to take an urgent meeting at the policy and organisation board next week.

‘We’re asking the health trust to think again, this is a very good surgery it wins all manner of awards, patients are extremely loyal to it and instead of saying it’s closing full stop, they should be given a chance to prepare a proper business plan.

‘None of us knows where we’re going, 4,500 people don’t know who their doctor is going to be after March.

‘In the present climate why close a very good surgery and lose very good staff when we’re told the NHS is struggling to cope already.’

In response, a spokesperson for the integrated care board said: ‘We received the GP partner at Bury Road’s resignation of his contract to deliver general medical services just before Christmas.

‘He has subsequently asked to rescind his resignation from the contract, and the practice put a proposal forward for a nurse-led model at the surgery, overseen by a different GP.

‘However, members of the Primary Care Operational Group for South East Hampshire, which includes GPs and nurses who specialise in quality of service assurance, were not reassured that the practice could be run effectively under the proposed model.

‘The ICB concluded that the proposed model would not provide a safe clinical service for patients at a time when the practice is already being closely monitored by the Care Quality Commission about its level of performance.

‘We are now working with the other GP practices in Gosport with a view to offering patients a choice of another practice in the area where there is the capacity to take them.’