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Relocation of Midway Medical Centre to share the premises of Lyme Valley Practice,

Lyme Valley Road, Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire.

Introduction and Background

Healthwatch Staffordshire were approached to consult with patients about the decision to co-locate two

existing GP practices in the Newcastle under Lyme area. Midway Medical Centre was scheduled to move to

the premises of Lyme Valley Medical Centre and at the point that Healthwatch became involved the NHS

press release was ready for circulation. The Practices were keen to involve patients as much as possible,

reduce patient anxiety by providing relevant information, and provide support to any patients who choose to

leave and register elsewhere as a result of the decision.

The role of Healthwatch was to engage with patients of both surgeries to ascertain patient sentiment about

the decision to co-locate, and to record any patient questions, comments or suggestions. The feedback from

patients would be analysed to identify common themes and concerns so that a Frequently Asked Questions

document could be created to respond to patient concerns and provide the required information. It was also

agreed that for any patients who wished to register at an alternative GP practice, Healthwatch would support

them to do so through the signposting service.

Participants and Method

A total of 135 patients participated in the consultation, of these 66 were Lyme Valley patients, 64 were

Midway Registered patients, and 5 were Midway walk-in service patients. Questions and comments were

collected during 4 consultation sessions over 3 weeks, a meeting with Lyme Valley PPG members, a meeting

with one Midway PPG member, and email feedback sent to practice staff by patients.

Recommendations from the engagement consultations In order to address the concerns and questions expressed by patients during the consultation it was

recommended that a FAQ document was prepared answering the relevant concerns/questions raised by the

patients throughout the consultation discussions.

Staff and Services

Provide reassurance that the surgeries are not merging, will keep their surgery names, and that patients

will still see the same GP’s, clinical and practice staff at each practice.

We can clarify that both Lyme Valley Practice and Midway Medical Centre will work as completely

independent practices operating from the Lyme Valley Road premises. All staff and GPs will remain the same

as will the opening times of each practice.

Clarify details around the catchment area for Midway Medical Centre.

Midway Medical Centre’s catchment area will remain unchanged. The catchment area can be viewed by

logging on to www.midwaymedical.co.uk and visiting the ‘New Patient’ tab and clicking on the link detailing

their catchment area.

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Provide details of blood tests service provision at Midway

The services provided by the Midway Medical Centre to unregistered patients will continue with the

exception of undertaking blood tests and a dressing service, which will cease. The Commissioners of North

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Clinical Commissioning Groups have taken the decision to remove the

Phlebotomy and Dressings Service from the Midway Medical Centre Contract (for unregistered patients only)

as these services are already offered from a number of alternative venues.

Blood test services are delivered across the county at various destinations. For venues and opening times

please either follow the link below or ask for details at reception.

http://www.uhnm.nhs.uk/OurServices/Documents/Blood%20Test/Phlebotomy%20Patient%20Information%2

0Leaflet.pdf

The services at Midway Medical Centre for registered patients will remain unchanged.

Provide details about the continuation of the unregistered patient service and how it operates.

There will be no change to the unregistered patient service. Midway Medical Centre, regardless of its

location, will continue to see 12 unregistered patients per day. These are via booked appointments and are

offered on a first come, first served basis.

Lyme Valley Premises - Building and Parking

Provide details about how the waiting room will be set up, patients were concerned whether there would

be enough room, if there would be a confidential space to talk, and if the seating will be separated by surgery.

Additional space has been made available within the waiting room at our Lyme Valley Road premises and we

now feel that the number of chairs available is sufficient. This will be kept under review once Midway

Medical Centre has moved to ensure that the comfort and safety of patients is maintained.

Unfortunately in order to make additional seating the children’s indoor play area for Lyme Valley Practice has

had to be removed.

Provide details about how reception will work, patients wanted to know if the reception will be split, if

Midway will have another reception to book in at, and how patients will identify the different practice staff.

There will be two queuing systems, one for each practice and each queue will be clearly defined by signage.

Staff will ensure they work together to help any patient as quickly and efficiently as possible regardless of

which practices they are registered with.

Provide clear details about parking availability, restrictions, and any suggested overspill parking

arrangements.

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We are sorry that we have had to resort to closing the surgery car park to patient parking (with the exception

of disabled patients). Our car park is quite small and as such it is felt that the volume of cars entering the car

park, trying to park and manoeuvre would become quite dangerous as our car park is already congested. We

also need to have parking available for those staff who need to access their vehicles for work purposes such

as home visits/traveling between sites and for emergency vehicles.

Patients who have mobility problems (without a disabled parking permit) will still be able to be dropped off at

the surgery although any vehicle will then need to be removed/parked off site.

Free car parking is available on Lyme Valley Parkway as well as in some of the residential streets around the

practice. Additionally there are fee paying car parks within a 200 metre radius of our practice.

Provide details of how clinical rooms will be split by surgery and if rooms will be rotated or be retained by

each practice.

Wherever possible each clinical staff member will be allocated to work from one room and remain in that

room for all of their shifts so that patients can become familiar with where each staff member is located in

the building. Staff working at Lyme Valley Practice will remain in their usual rooms.

Questions were asked about the current Midway building and what the plans are for its use after the

move.

The building will be returned to NHS England on Saturday 24th June 2017 and NHS England will then make a

decision as to whether to hand the building back to its owner or to recommission its use by another service.

Provide details about the location of Lyme Valley for Midway patients.

Lyme Valley Practice is located on Lyme Valley Road, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 3TF.

Its physical location is noted in the map below:-

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Operational Information

Provide details about how the practices will co-exist regarding appointment bookings.

All current booking arrangements for both practices will continue unchanged. Patients can telephone each

practice to book their appointment in the usual way. Online bookings facilities are also still available and

appointments can be made using your current log in details.

Provide details about telephone numbers and if number of phone lines will be increased to accommodate

higher demand.

Lyme Valley Practice Midway Medical Centre Telephone Number : 01782 615367

Fax Number: 01782 713355

Telephone Number: 01782 433265

Fax Number : 01782 433268

There are no plans to increase the telephone lines into each practice although we can confirm that the

number of lines will not reduce.

Clarify opening hours for each practice.

Lyme Valley Practice Midway Medical Centre Monday 8.00 am – 6.30 pm

Tuesday 8.00 - 6.30 pm

Wednesday 8.00am – 8.00 pm

Thursday 8.00 am – 1.00 pm

Friday 8.00 am – 6.30 pm

Closed Saturday and Sunday

Open 365 day per year

8.00 am – 8.00 pm

Provide information about how patients, who choose to register elsewhere, can get support.

Should patients feel that they wish to register with an alternative GP, they can visit the NHS Choices website

(www.nhs.uk) where they can search for ‘Services Near You’. This will identify GP practices within the local

area and patients will then be able to go along to a GP of their choice and register. Patients could also discuss

registering with a new GP with HealthWatch and their Freephone number is 03000 683000.

Other

Many patients wanted to know the reasons behind the decision to co-locate the practices.

The running costs for any NHS property is high and this is particularly relevant for a premises which is open

365 days per year, 12 hours per day as is the case for Midway Medical Centre. As there were rooms available

at Lyme Valley Practice it made practicable sense to move Midway Medical Centre to more efficiently use

Lyme Valley premises. This will inevitably mean that the cost of running both services will reduce which will

be a saving to the NHS as a whole.

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Many patients wanted to know why they have not been informed before now, and why they have not

been written to directly by their practices.

Both practices have engaged the help and support of HealthWatch to communicate to patients. In addition

to this information has been placed on each practice website and within the practices. A letter has not been

sent out directly to patients’ home addresses due to the costs involved with sending out such a large number

of postal letters, however, the information about the move has been included in local press releases.

Clarify that the date of the move is confirmed and will definitely go ahead – many patients felt that the

move would be delayed.

From Friday 23rd June all Midway Medical Centre patients will be seen and treated from the Lyme Valley Road

premises. Lyme Valley Practice patients will continue to be seen throughout. The staff are now preparing for

the move and it is not felt that there will be any delay to this move date.