Gosport practice looking for new site as current home is put up for sale

Brockhurst Medical Centre, in Gosport, is trying to find a new site after the owners of its current building put it up for sale.

Dr Sumit Sharma said the move will not impact on the practice’s status of being independent and they are not looking to merge with any other GP group.

It comes as a letter from Dr Sharma shared on social media site Facebook said the clinical commissioning group (CCG) for the town, which decides where to allocate funding for health services, were ‘creating circumstances forcing us into a merger’.

But the GP said having met with members of the CCG last week this is not the case and the practice, on Brockhurst Road, will be remaining independent.

Speaking to The News, he said: ‘The company which owns our building is dissolving in March so we need to find a new place.

‘I wrote the letter to the Patient Participation Group to get them involved and get patients’ views because a move is a big thing for people. Since writing the letter, I have been reassured by the CCG that we cannot be forced into merging which is a positive for us.

‘We want to keep the personal touch we have with our patients and be able to carry on with our innovation and for me, remaining independent is the best way to do that.’

As previously reported in The News,four GP practices in Gosport have recently merged to form the Willow Group. The surgeries had been facing problems with GP vacancies and had worked together on pilot schemes.

But Mr Sharma said their practice was not facing the pressures of others.

‘We are growing in patient numbers but we have innovative ways of working to ensure we cope,’ he said.

‘We need a new home that will allow us to continue to grow and become the modern practice we want to be.

‘There a few ideas in the pipeline and I want to reassure patients we will find a new site.’

Sara Tiller, the director of primary care development for the Hampshire CCG Partnership, said: ‘We recently met with Brockhurst Medical Centre and discussed a number of options about its possible relocation – we are now working with them as they look at the available options in more detail.

‘Both the CCG and the practice are committed to achieving the same objective, which is to ensure that patients continue to receive the highest quality GP services.’