Agenda item - GP Surgery Provison

53.1    Cllr Morgan spoke to his letter, informing members that the closure of Eaton Place surgery meant that more than 5,500 city residents would lose their GP. There are many vulnerable patients at the surgery for whom continuity of care is vital. There is a worrying lack of accurate information about the closure, with many people erroneously believing that an alternative surgery will be opening at the Marina.

The closure of Eaton Place will place additional pressure on other city surgeries, potentially increasing waiting times for patients. Given the proximity of Eaton Place to the Royal Sussex County Hospital there is also a risk that the closure of Eaton Place will lead to an increase in people presenting for treatment at A&E inappropriately.

NHS England has published a list of alternative GP practices for Eaton Place patients. However, not all the surgeries listed in fact have open lists; some are declining to offer home visits to patients in particular post codes; some will not accept new patients until they have finished a course of treatment; one practice has no permanent GP; and several will prove difficult to access for people currently registered at Eaton Place.

More generally, it is worrying that there are not more effective procedures in place for dealing with retiring GPs, particularly given the fact that it is widely accepted that an unprecedented number of GPs are actively considering leaving practice, and there are significant problems with recruiting into the profession. It is clear that there is an urgent requirement to ensure that there are sufficient GPs to cover the needs of the city – and equally clear that the Health & Wellbeing Board (HWB) has an important role to play here.

53.2    Fran McCabe told members that Healthwatch had received a number of comments from service users about the closure of Eaton Place. Ms McCabe noted that the Eaton Place surgery has been identified as high risk by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) due to the large number of vulnerable patients on its list. Given that there is such a clear desire to maintain a GP service in the vicinity, the paucity of alternative providers, and the proximity of an over-stretched hospital A&E, surely there is an urgent case to find alternative provision.

53.3    Fiona Harris told members that things are improving, with co-commissioning offering opportunities to better align NHS England Area Team commissioners with local CCG commissioners and with other partners in the local health economy.

53.4    Dr Beesley noted that there is a lack of good modern GP premises in the city and there is a clear need for a citywide premises strategy. The CCG would soon begin to conduct a workforce survey across city primary care – it was important to take local ownership of workforce planning.

53.5    Denise D’Souza added that she was actively looking at the potential to use council premises in the area as a base for primary care services.

53.6    Members agreed that it was important that vulnerable patients on the Eaton Place list were supported to find alternative GP provision, particularly in terms of people with learning disabilities, mental health or substance misuse problems, and the frail elderly.

53.7    Members agreed that a report should be prepared for a future HWB meeting on the broad issue of developing and maintaining GP capacity across the city.

53.8    Members also agreed that urgent action was required to address the specific issue of the closure of Eaton Place surgery.

53.9    RESOLVED – that a report be prepared for a future HWB meeting on planning to develop and maintain city GP capacity; and that senior officers from the city council, Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England Area Team meet urgently to address issues with regard to the closure of Eaton Place surgery.