Cllr. Roger Huxstep, Chair, HASC
HCC,
The Castle,
Winchester 25th April 2016

Dear Roger,

Thank you for sending me a copy of the letter from Friarsgate to the HASC.

Both Cllr Tod and I are very unhappy with the decision to close the surgery at Kings Worthy.
Cllr Tod represents Weeke. The residents in that area complain constantly about the time it takes to get an appointment there.
For Worthys residents, we do not feel the facts have been interpreted properly.

Closures like this put patients in a quandary- do I register with a full time surgery or try this one that opens when it chooses?

The point is made in the letter that only 1/3 of Worthys residents use the surgery, and are linked to this practice 
They looked at SO23 postcode- there are SO21 residents too who live within minutes of the surgery.
For some time, patients have complained that 
1. the appointment for a medical intervention or test for a specific problem (e.g. a smear, an asthma assessment) is not offered at the Kings Worthy surgery here, so patients have to travel to Weeke or Badger Farm
2. the number of hours open severely restricts the chances to make or take an appointment there. The number of hours to see a doctor or nurse has reduced considerably over the years, and it is often closed for extended periods at holiday times.
3. the Friarsgate surgery has closed the Worthys surgery for new patients for many years, so no one can register there, despite it being a growing village of over 2000 households.
4. the services of Friarsgate surgery have not been actively advertised or promoted in the village for decades, despite its proximity to the centre of the village, so many new residents do not even bother to try to register there.
5. already, Weeke has a poor record with patients for a speedy response to a request for an appointment- an offer of two weeks is not unusual. Taking the Worthys surgery away would make it worse.

In the reply there is emphasis placed on Dial a ride and a minibus to the ‘health cafe style experience’  on Wednesdays as options for those who cannot drive or do not have a car
A significant number of young people and elderly are in this situation. Winchester City Council places young single mums in flats in the Worthys- it has good 2year old pre-school provision, a school you can walk to, a surgery, shops and a reasonably good bus service. The same is true for older people, also moved into flats and bungalows here.

One lady who does not drive said to me that now if she is ill, consideration has to be given not just to her, but when her husband could get time off to take her to the doctor!

Residents are concerned because 
1. dial a ride needs seven days’ notice so is not suitable for a doctors appointment, and 
2. dial a ride is not available to younger residents without a car
3. using a taxi is limited to a small number of visits a year if the taxi option is taken up rather than a bus pass. Going to the doctor would become an expensive option.
4. the alternative, two buses, needs an hour’s consideration and is expensive and difficult without access to a car, especially for younger families.

The ‘cafe style health experience’ offered was not enthusiastically received! 
Most attendees at the consultation that I spoke to, were dismayed that this was felt to be a suitable alternative to a bookable appointment , which was especially concerning for those with chronic illnesses.

Marc Dryden suggested to me that I could set up a volunteer driver system to help patients without transport.

My response was that I wanted the Health service to fund it, and provide us with a ‘disabled style’ permanent parking space at the Weeke end of the journey to accommodate volunteer drivers, including a waiting bay.
Weeke shops become extremely busy and parking is impossible-especially at bank holidays and Christmas/Easter etc and it wasn’t reasonable to expect drivers to work around that. I have had no response to that request.

The journey to the doctor from Abbotts Barton, the Worthys, the Itchen Valley all need the patient and family to catch two buses, and two back to home again. This isn’t reasonable.

Friarsgate state that with just a 1/3 of the population using the surgery, that the need in the Worthys isn’t great enough to justify a surgery there

The practice has not been promoted for at least the last decade
The Worthys is growing significantly (plan for 350 more homes in the LPP2), and the school has expanded by 30% in the last five years. Other services, e.g. pre school is growing too. Other communities: Twyford, South Wonston, Sutton Scotney, Badger Farm, Alresford have doctors surgeries. I think that all of the ‘big 6’ growing communities currently have one- so why is there a plan to close the surgery in the Worthys?

There isn’t another building to be used
The surgery has not been upgraded by Friarsgate for over 20 years, even though I presume it is on a repairing lease. It is rather tatty but fit for purpose for most people. The number of mobility scooters in circulation is low. Embracing innovative changes on site could bring real social value to this community.Simply moving the entrance etc could bring huge benefits and the community might even be able to help fund these changes if asked.

Available sites but rejected by Friarsgate
I chair the Tubbs Hall committee and am a founding charity trustee of the property. We lease it from WCC. It has office space, toilets, kitchen, parking, good disabled access and good light levels in the cross hair centre of the village just a few yards from the current surgery. We offered the building(in principle that is) (it is just 20 years old) complete for consideration, but the offer was rejected in just a few hours. 

WCC has space around the current surgery and redundant garage blocks nearby, and there is also an empty and poorly used communal room at Harwood Place, ideal for a surgery. HCC has an empty building The Grove, elsewhere in the Worthys, but none of these was offered by the city or the county at a cost that Friarsgate could afford. Why not?

I can only conclude that a satellite site is not what Friarsgate or the CCG or WCC or HCC want to achieve.

The CCG says ‘local when you can, central where necessary’. In this case, I would like the HASC to test this theory once more.

I do not believe that the residents of the whole of Winchester, Abbots Barton, the Itchen Valley, the Worthys and others who use the surgery are really being served at all by this move from the Worthys to Weeke. I know the Parish Council agree with me.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Jackie Porter
Cllr Jackie Porter