Two doctors' surgeries serving 14,000 Portsmouth residents to close as part of merger

From left, Dr Ian Morris, Dr Fiona Gaught, Dr Shane Lookit and Dr David Berry before the Hanway medical patient meeting at St Wilfred's Church, Portsmouth.
Picture: Chris Moorhouse (080120-33) — From left, Dr Ian Morris, Dr Fiona Gaught, Dr Shane Lookit and Dr David Berry before the Hanway medical patient meeting at St Wilfred's Church, Portsmouth. Picture: Chris Moorhouse (080120-33)

The proposal will see Portsdown Group Practise merge with Hanway Medical Practice, leading to the closure of the latter’s sites in Hanway Road, Buckland, and Stubbington Avenue, North End.

The Hanway Medical Practice is facing closure as two senior GPs are set to retire this year.

Residents attending a meeting to discuss the plans on Wednesday evening expressed concerns that their GP will be harder to reach.

GP Hanway Medical Centre, no 2 Hanway Road, Portsmouth

Copnor resident Lesley Barker said she felt like her GP was ‘creeping away’ with the Hanway Road surgery closing after her previous surgery in Queen’s Road closed in 2017.

The 73-year-old said: ‘I just feel some times that we are just numbers to the people making decisions.

‘It feels like my GP is creeping away from me.’

Hanway Medical Group GP practice in Buckland and North End is set to merge with ...

Her granddaughter, Sophie Barker, who has Aspergers syndrome and suffers from anxiety, was concerned about the number of people attending the nearest Portsdown Group Practice surgery in Kingston Crescent.

The 29-year-old said: ‘I’m worried about the number of people who will be at the new surgeries. It’s going to make me a lot more anxious.

‘I was getting settled at Hanway Road, but now it feels like all that work to find Hanway was for nothing.’

Staff will have the option to transfer to the Portsdown Group Practice, which has 24 GPs across four sites in Portsmouth.

Mark Stubbings, managing partner at Portsdown Group Practice, said the group was planning to take on more doctors following the merger.

He said: ‘We will be looking to replace one of the retiring doctors as a full time GP, and then will need a couple of GPs after that.

‘We will also be recruiting medical practitioners.’

The Portsdown Group would not see ‘one iota’ of the sale of the Hanway Medical Practice buildings, as they are owned by the practice’s GP partners, who stand to lose a ‘considerable amount,’ according to Mr Stubbings.

He added: ‘The valuation as a GP surgery is higher than for an other development.’

The proposed merger will be brought before the NHS Portsmouth Clinical Commissioning Group in February, with the commissioning body expected to make a decision on the plans in March.