Wickham Surgery petition raised after concerns it could be overwhelmed by new Welborne development

A local resident, Belinda Pope, raised the petition around concerns that the Wickham Surgery services would be affected if their boundary limits are not redefined. Welborne Garden Village is being developed just south of Wickham along the A32 and the fears are that the surgeries services will be overwhelmed with an influx of new patients.

The petition, raised by Ms Pope, states: "We request that the NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB) redefine Wickham Surgery’s catchment boundary to include only the first phase of the nearby Welborne development. This boundary change will limit the Surgery’s intake of Welborne Residents to the first 690 homes / c1700 residents only.  Welborne is a new development within Fareham Borough Council, which upon completion will be a town larger than Petersfield."

At the time of writing the petition is just shy of its 1,000 signature goal, with local people looking to protect their doctor's surgery. While concerns have been raised by residents, Fareham Borough Council, have stated that it is a legal requirement for healthcare facilities to be built on the Welborne site. Councillor Seán Woodward, Executive Leader of Fareham Borough Council, said:  ‘From the inception of Welborne, Fareham Borough Council has believed that it is of paramount importance that healthcare facilities are provided within the new development to meet the needs of its future residents.

"A legal agreement which accompanies the planning permission for the Welborne development, requires that buildings are constructed and delivered at Welborne by the Master Developer (Buckland Development Ltd) from which healthcare can be delivered. Fareham Borough Council is working closely with Buckland Development Ltd and the NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, to ensure appropriate healthcare provision will be provided at Welborne.

"Any changes to the catchment boundary for Wickham Surgery, is a decision which will be taken by the NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board. Fareham Borough Council is not part of the formal decision making process for the Surgery’s catchment boundaries."

The developer at Welbourne, Buckland Development Ltd, has also acknowledged the legal requirement for sufficient primary and medical facilities to be built at the site. While they aim to have the facilities built in the early stages of the development, they have advised it is not down to them to decide when the facilities become operational.

John Beresford, Managing Director, Buckland Development Ltd said: "Welborne has always been committed to building a surgery and pharmacy in the early years of construction. The decision about when this surgery becomes operational is a decision for the NHS Hampshire & Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB), which is currently carrying out a thorough assessment of local patient demand and allocation. For example, the ICB may decide that the first Welborne residents would initially be best served by surrounding surgeries with existing capacity for additional patients.

"The ICB is also liaising with Wickham surgery which has indicated that it will be able to accommodate some of the initial Welborne residents without affecting the level of service for their current patients. The surgery has also said that the catchment boundary should subsequently be redrawn to safeguard the surgery capacity beyond this initial intake of new patients, which Welborne supports. As the first phase of the development does not yet have planning consent, we would recommend that the ICB decides on the new boundaries once the planning consent has been approved." The ICB has confirmed they are open to a boundary change for Wickham Surgery in the future. James Roach Director of Primary Care Transformation at NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight said: “Patient care and ensuring everyone has access to local primary care is our priority and we are working closely with local stakeholders regarding the Welborne Garden Village development. The decision of the committee was to neither approve nor decline the application for Wickham Surgery’s boundary change and the committee would welcome the opportunity to consider a fresh boundary change application from Wickham Surgery in the future.

The concern for local residents is that new boundary change may not come soon enough before its services become affected by the Welborne Garden Village development.