Four practices to close leaving 10,000 patients displaced

Four practices in Brighton and Hove which serve over 10,000 patients are due to close, after having their funding stopped following a review of PMS contracts.

According to a letter sent to stakeholders from NHS England, patients at three of the practices will be automatically transferred to other GP practices. In particular, 4,000 patients from The Practice Whitehawk Road will be able to attend a GP practice run from the same building.

However, 2,000 patients at The Practice North Street will have to register for a ew GP themselves after the practice closes in July.

In an interview with Pulse,Dr Julius Parker, chief executive of Surrey and Sussex LMCs said that he didn’t know why the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was not running a re-procurement process for the four practices, but he maintained: “I am aware that procurement for practice list sizes of 2,000 or 3,000 isn’t considered to be economically possible by NHS England; I presume that the CCG were concerned that they might not get a successful procurement programme.”

A spokesperson for NHS England (South) said: “In response to the decision by The Practice Group to give notice on their contract to provide services at five Brighton and Hove GP surgeries, our priority has been to ensure all affected patients have ongoing access to local care. 

“We have now secured alternative care arrangements for patients from The Practice Whitehawk Road, The Practice North Street, The Practice Willow House and The Practice Hangleton Manor following further discussions with other GP practices, patients and local community representatives. We are writing to all affected patients to explain next steps and to support them in moving to a new practice.’

“We are reprocuring services provided at the Brighton Homeless Healthcare surgery, so that we can appoint a new healthcare provider to deliver care to the vulnerable patients who use this surgery from the beginning of February 2017.”