Gosport Medical Centre announces plans to merge with Willow Group

Gosport Medical Centre has announced that it is considering plans to merge with The Willow Group, which consists of four other practices in the area.

The announcement came this month and if the plans go ahead, the merge will take place from April 1, 2023 and the practice will be operated by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

If the merger takes place, The Willow Group will be one of the biggest practices in Hampshire with approximately 49,000 registered patients, and the group would consist of Brune Medical Centre, Forton Medical Centre, Stoke Road Medical Centre, Waterside Medical Centre and Gosport Medical Centre.

The information was released on the Gosport Medical Centre website, where it states that the centre approached the group to suggest a merger which will ‘guarantee long-term access to primary care services for its 13,500 patients.’

The centre have created a letter to their patients on behalf of Drs Gorecka, Paterson & Taylor, which said: ‘We want to reassure you that there will be no site closures and no job losses amongst our staff. Our existing services will all continue.

SEE ALSO: The best 11 Chinese takeaways according to Google ratings

‘Both our practices strongly believe that a merger offers advantages for patients, including access to clinical and non-clinical services across five sites – although there may be some changes to what we use the buildings for.’

The medical centre has two GPs retiring at the end of March of this year, and by merging, it is hoped to provide more security for patients.

The Willow Group was established in 2017.

The Gosport Medical Centre have created a online patient survey where patients will have the ability to voice concerns and queries, which will help them plan the future of the centre.

The centre will be updating patients on the plans on their website.

The letter added: ‘The biggest benefit, as mentioned above, is arguably to patients at Gosport Medical Centre as the practice would otherwise face an uncertain future.’

The News recently reported that Gosport Borough Council has asked Dr Carl Anandan at Bury Road Surgery and the Integrated Care Board for Hampshire to enter into talks which could see the surgery stay open after the GP retires.