Closure of Evington Surgery an Undemocratic Catastrophe
The fight to save Evington GP branch surgery at 10 the Common has seen two public meetings in the space of a week, led by Councillor Zuffar Haq, who appears to be the only member of Leicester City Council who is fighting on behalf of the people of Evington. On 4th December 2024 Pilgrim Gardens hosted the meeting with several patients of the practice expressing their dissatisfaction with the decision to close the surgery. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Integrated Care Board (ICB) who are responsible for arranging NHS GP services for the public, and representatives of the City Council who have stated publicly that they support the people communities and businesses of Leicester and strive to keep high streets vibrant and economically sound.
At that meeting, recorded and available to watch on the Evington Echo on-line, the ICB, despite powerful arguments that the surgery IS fit for the purpose of providing a local GP surgery with nursing support, and Dr Wood wishing to continue a service there by selling the building to another GP practice, decided to continue down the road of closure.
The second meeting, chaired by Councillor Haq, was held at Evington Village Hall at 19:00 on Tuesday 10th January. Another good turnout of around 100 people, heard from Dr Cheesman of the St Elizabeth’s Medical Centre Partnership, that he does not wish to continue to provide services local to Evington Village, with his stance supported by the ICB. Little support for keeping the surgery open came from any of the other elected representatives, who seem to have swallowed the misleading propaganda used as the argument in favour of closure.
Misleading, because the surgery has always been a branch surgery providing a limited service mainly of GP and nursing consultations and support. It has never been an all singing all dancing modern surgery capable of providing a wider range of services such as physiotherapy or minor surgical procedures. To continue to provide the current service would only require a limited amount of remedial work, which given how long and how well the surgery has performed over the decades, could be done over a few years.
For the ICB to declare the surgery not fit for purpose and suggest a better service would be provided at St Elizabeth’s Medical centre suggests that those charged with making this decision measured our quaint, local GP service, against the criteria for a full-blown primary care surgery being commissioned or inspected under that framework. This is plainly misleading and dishonest.
In addition, the claim that notice had been issued, in writing or otherwise, to the GP Partnership at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Centre is the second misleading pillar of the argument for closure. Indeed, Dr Wood had to be bought out of his 50% stake in St Elizabeth’s Medical Centre Partnership, and as 100% owner of 10 The Common wishes to sell it. However, he did not issue notice or a date for the surgery to be closed, and in fact he would prefer to sell it to another GP in order that the people of Evington Village and its surrounding area can continue to receive a local GP and Nursing service.
Dr Wood is now in his eighties and not in the best of health and has designated his son Dr Marcus Wood to act on his behalf in the matter of the surgery premises. Strangely enough no one from the ICB has bothered to contact Marcus to discuss the facts of the matter or to explore the options.
Indeed, what is not widely known is that Councillor Haq, who has worked tirelessly to maintain this local service, was approached by another Leicestershire practice interested in taking on 10 the Common and continuing the local GP and nursing service. Unfortunately, ICB intervention put them off and they pulled out before any negotiations could begin. One can only speculate that they believed the distorted arguments put forward by the ICB or were otherwise dissuaded because of their relationship as a provider, commissioned by the ICB.
Whichever way you look at this scenario, whether it be the role of the GP Partnership at St Elizabeth’s Medical Centre, who seem certain to make significant cost savings from this closure, or the ICB who should have listened to the people of Evington Village, and to reasoned argument, and continued to support local provision of health services, or the failed role of Leicester City Council (which I cover below), democracy and the needs of people for accessible, local health provision seems to have been dealt a fatal blow.
As to the role of the City Council and the Mayor of Leicester in Evington losing the GP branch surgery, it’s pharmacy and its post office. This will impact everyone who lives in the area and probably lead to less revenue for many shops as footfall declines. The City Council purports to support the people, communities and the businesses within its area and to keep high streets functioning, however when I wrote to the Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, to seek his support he washed his hands of the matter.
Finally, the ICB is also responsible for the pharmacy and yet some ICB managers appeared blissfully ignorant of the fact that it was closing as well as the surgery. When such decisions are taken it is normal to conduct an environmental impact assessment, but it appears in this case not to have been done.
For the ICB to manipulate facts in support of closure, ignore the democratic wishes of the people of Evington, and condone the closing of two essential services simultaneously, added to the closure of the post office and the lack of City Council support, it seems there is no access to democracy as well as no access to three erstwhile essential services for the residents of Evington Village.
John Alexander McFadyen
12/12/24
