Evington GP Meeting 10th December 2024

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A Public Meeting was held on Tuesday 10th December  at 7.00pm at

Evington Village Hall LE5 6 DN

This meeting was chaired by Cllr. Zuffar Haq (which invited residents to give their views about the changes taking place in Evington  – the closure of the Doctors Surgery on the Common, the closure of the Post Office and the closure of the Pharmacy.)

Full meeting podcast:

Present at the meeting were:

Cllr Zuffar Haq (Chair)  He was representing many residents who had contacted him and were horrified at the 10 days notice to close the Surgery on the Common on Friday 13th December.

Two representatives from MPs:  Shivani Raja MP and Shockat Adam MP.

Two representatives from the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board.

Rachna Vyas (Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Director  and Nil Sanganee Chief Medical Officer)

About 100 residents, at least 50 were patients of the surgery on The Common.

 

The Meeting about the Closure of the Doctors’ Surgery on The Common

 

Cllr. Zuffar Haq opened the meeting by explaining about the loss of facilities in Evington Village and that no further movement had been made with the NHS about the Doctors surgery on the Common, since the meeting at Pilgrim Gardens on 4th December.  He said that Downing Drive and Willows were not creditable alternatives and that the Netherhall practice at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Centre involved residents in a 2- hour bus journey there and 2 hours back.  He went on to explain that the Centre Bus service was not fit for purpose and stops after 8.00pm.

The Chair, Cllr. Zuffar Haq,  then asked for questions and comments from the floor.

The first question asked about the centre being taken over by the community and whether anyone had looked at the Community Fund being approached to buy the property and upgrade it, or an alternative GP practice to take it on.

The Chief Medical Officer (Nil Saganee)  explained that a consultation was started in March this year to hear all views after the landlord said the site would no longer be available after 31st December. (The consultation only elicited 84 responses, 51% against closure and 25% supporting it.  Dr Wood and son have stated that no date was given for closure.)  That no quick decision was made, and that a lot of work was done to look at alternatives for the 1,000 patients who use the practice.  He said that Dr. Wood can sell the building to whoever he likes, so the sale is different from the contract to run a GP surgery.  He said that it wasn’t viable to keep running the GP practice at the Common, and that much work had been done to mitigate the problems to patients.  He said the closest practice was 0.8 miles away, but there were others 1 and 2 miles away and that they could offer quick registrations. 

The Chief Medical Officer then explained all the options that were available from the full team at the Netherhall practice.

 

As people joined the meeting late, they were asked to move to the front where there were extra chairs.

 

A member of the audience pointed out that there were more housing developments on the doorstep with more people needing doctors surgeries.

They pointed out the difficulty of taking patients into already full practices, and described the problems that occur when practices are saturated.

Cllr. Zuffar Haq  pointed out that in Leicester the average number of patients per doctors’ surgery is 2,000 but nationally it is  1,200.  He said that if a new practice was thriving in Evington, then it would help to make a  Pharmacy viable as well.

Cllr. Haq said that Dr Wood had not given notice to the St. Elizabeth’s Medical Centre to vacate 10 The Common and that his preferred option would be to sell to another GP Surgery.  The information Retchna said she had was that the practice said they were selling the building on 31st December and needed ICB Board to give back their keys.  She said there were 14 practices within a 2-mile radius of Evington and reiterated the wider range of professionals available at St Elizabeth’s Medical Centre in Netherall.

 

According to Drs Wood, no dates were set.  Also a 2-mile radius is only any help for those with their own transport.

 

A member of the audience said that to get the best financial outcome the NHS needed also to take into account the costs of closure and moving elsewhere  involving an extra cost for the patients, which would add up.

 

Dr. Cheesman then spoke and said that with Dr. Wood retiring, he can’t afford to buy the practice out and didn’t wish to rent.  Therefore he will move to the Netherall practice.

 

Again it was pointed out that no formal notice had been given to Dr. Wood and Dr. Cheesman.  This has been down to Dr Cheesman and the ICB.

 

Cllr. Haq then asked about extending the time of this surgery to March 2025, giving patients more time to find another surgery.  Cllr. Haq then read out some emails he had received from Dr. Marcus Wood which stated that his father would like to sell to another practice and would consider a rental, but could not attend for alarm purposes.  Also no date was given by the landlords and no contracts to the ICB Board had been agreed.

 

Again Cllr Haq asked the ICB Board to consider a reprieve until the end of March and not ask people to find a new surgery 10 days before Christmas..

 

There was just one member in the audience that thought enough notice had been given in March.  However another member of the audience said that nothing had been said about the closure until the  2nd December 2024 email.

 

The Chief Executive officer reiterated that the change would not involve any discontinuation of service and that a complex analysis of all services had taken place.

 

Another question from the audience gave an example.  She said that in practice if she went to the multi-disciplinary team, say about her knee, that she wouldn’t get the referral to the multi-disciplinary team and specialists on that same day.

 

Another member of the audience said that the problem for the elderly is that they need physical access and poorly people don’t need long, difficult  bus rides.  Evington Village is well situated as a hub for services, so don’t take them away. 

 

The Chief Medical Officer agreed that the bus rides were a problem.

 

Another member pointed out that having one GP in the surgery for people to come to was better than 1000s of people travelling somewhere else.  The location in Evington Village is good and convenient.

 

It was recognised that the ICB Board is constrained by bureaucracy, but the appeal was for them to reconsider when we are coming into Winter.

 

Cllr. Haq asked “Who is happy with the service?”.  Many hands went up.  He then asked who is happy who goes elsewhere?”  Only one or two hands went up.

 

There will be a drop-in session this Friday at the Doctors’ surgery to help any patients register with a new practice.  Repeat prescriptions can be arranged to go to your door.  The ICB Board will work with people’s issues, but were not prepared to consider an extension as a means of mitigation or any Plan B for patients registering at Queen Elizabeth’s Medical Centre.

 

Another patient at the surgery summed up by saying there had been many crossed wires, but that many people need face to face engagement.  Again it was pointed out that no formal notice had been given to Dr. Cheesman or Dr. Wood.

 

Many hands supported the idea to extend the surgery until the end of March.

 

At this point the meeting wished to discuss other issues.  The ICB Board representative left the meeting.

 

Cllr. Haq said he was going to raise the issue in full council and propose a vote of no confidence in the Integrated Care Board.

 

Post Office Issue

 

When the proposal to close the post office was made public, there was a proposal for the post office to move into a shop that Richard and Lynn Kent were running, but that didn’t work.  The Councillor asked if the licence could be sold, but the answer was ‘no’.  The problem was that the surgery was shutting.  Note the pharmacy and the post office are both in the same shop.

 

Police Issue

 

Theft is now a big issue and so residents need to stay vigilant and report anti-social behaviour to 111.  They need to lock up well and take car keys upstairs at night and look at upgrading their security.  It is a large business stealing cars.  Consider having a local what’s app. group for your street.  Take down number plates if you witness drug selling in the Arboretum Car Park, for example.

 

The LCC website will publicise the official ward meeting dates and the Police will attend these meetings.  Come along.  They happen every 3 months.

 

Linden Drive Planning application for a Children’s Care Home

 

A resident on Linden Drive said that he objected to this planning application because it leads to more anti-social behaviour and is a money-making enterprise as each child can have to pay £6,000 to £11,000.  (See BBC website)  Once one children’s home is in the area, then more follow.

There is a meeting on 11th December for residents of Linden Drive to discuss this.