Mansfield Park GP Surgery in Hampshire gets expansion go-ahead after staff abused over lack of appointments
A Hampshire doctors’ surgery where staff face abuse over a lack of appointments is a step closer to expanding.
The surgery in Medstead has been granted funds to extend its practice buildings and provide care for up to 10,000 patients.
East Hampshire District Council awarded Watercress Medical Group at Mansfield Park Surgery more than £230,000 towards the costs to extend its essential healthcare facilities.
The integrated care board (ICB), which plans NHS services, is set to receive £234,474.70 funds from the community infrastructure levy fund (CIL) to pay for the project estimated to cost £355,265.
The project was identified for funding as part of East Hampshire District Council’s ’emerging infrastructure plan’ consultation in the draft local plan, a blueprint for future development.
If it clears future hurdles such as planning permission, the scheme would enable Watercress Medical to expand and create four extra consultation rooms, three new administration offices and a larger dispensary which plans said would provide “efficient, effective use of space” for its current 7,500 patients and up to 10,000 new ones.
In a Facebook post on June 3, the surgery said there had been a doubling in demand for appointments from 2020 to 2024, booking more than 20,391 clinical appointments with 70 per cent being face-to-face to date this year. Dealing with an average of 1,250 telephone calls per week and dispensing over 22,170 items of medication since January 1, 2024, there has also been a “significant increase in unacceptable behaviour from an ever-increasing number of our patients”.
It said staff face aggressive or abusive behaviour including being threatened and intimidated because patients cannot get appointments. The post also said patients said “well, if I die before my appointment, I can blame you” was unacceptable.
On the potential expansion, head of estates at NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB Lisa Medway said: “We are very pleased to now be able to move forward with the planned expansion. The practice’s next steps are to complete their planning documentation and submit their application which they intend to do this summer.
“Progression of this scheme would only be affordable by securing CIL grant funding, which East Hampshire District Council confirmed as approved on July 22, 2024.”
Council documents said the CIL would help fund the project, with the remaining funds being provided by the surgery itself.
In total £1.5 million in grants were awarded to 17 projects from the East Hampshire District Council’s £2 million community infrastructure levy (CIL) 2024 fund.
The CIL fund is made up of charges received by councils, from developers on housing projects enabling millions of pounds to be collected and then spent on improving infrastructure for local people.