You will be aware that we have been trying to provide new premises for the practice for the last 4 years.
After many false starts the Parish Council offered us the opportunity of a new medical centre on the front part of the Festival hall. We have been working with the Parish Council for the last 2 years on making this proposal a reality. The project was approved by the Primary Care Trust in October 2010 but shortly afterwards all increased expenditure on premises was suspended effectively halting our plans. In spite of this we have pushed the project forward with the help of a local developer and the Parish Council.
We now have relatively detailed plans and are in a position to submit the planning application.
"Why do we need a new Medical Centre?"
This is the obvious question and the answers are as follows:-
1. SPACE – The practice has grown to provide medical services to a growing population and to increase the range of medical services we provide.. We have run out of space for both patient services and our staff. A lot of our patients are disabled and cannot manage the stairs. We need more consulting rooms, another treatment room and all clinical rooms to be accessible to all patients. We are a training practice and would also like to provide more training space for medical students and young doctors.
2. FACILITIES – We currently provide a variety of treatment room services including minor surgery, coil fitting, immunisations. Our treatment room does not meet current specifications and it would be very difficult to adapt it. A modern treatment/operating room would allow a wider range of minor surgery procedures including more specialised services from visiting consultants and allied services.
3. DISABILITY LEGISLATION – The George Street premises do not meet current disability legislation, and cannot be adapted to meet this. We have half of our consulting rooms on the first floor which makes them inaccessible to a large number of elderly and disabled patients.
4. CARE QUALITY COMMISSION LEGISLATION – We will be subject to CQC legislation from April 2013. We are unlikely to meet these requirements in our existing building. Although it is unlikely that they would close us down in 2013, the long term viability of the building as a medical practice is doubtful.
5. PARKING – We have no available parking spaces for patients attending the surgery. This means that patients are often late for their appointments because they are unable to park. Patients have had parking tickets if the doctor is running late.
6. EXPANDING SERVICES – The 'new' NHS aims to bring hospital services into the community. This is already happening in the Wilmslow practices and surrounding areas We need to be able to house these services, or lose them to other areas. Our past experience tells us that having services on site gives our patients more effective healthcare.
All the points listed above make it difficult to predict the future for our practice. If we do not provide adequate premises in the long term it is feasible that the practice could be closed and medical services transferred to neighbouring practices eg. Wilmslow. For the future we need to be able to attract the best young GPs to replace those of us who are likely to retire in the next 5 years. We will only be able to do this if we have modern premises and facilities.
The Festival Hall site gives us a unique opportunity. Because the site is owned by Alderley Edge Parish Council they are able to make the land available for the medical centre. This makes the project affordable even with the current cash constraints on the NHS. It would guarantee the long term presence of a medical practice in the village, with the site controlled by the Parish Council.
There will be a public consultation on Thursday 26th January 2012 from 4 pm until 7pm at the Festival Hall. There will be an opportunity to view our plans and to ask questions about the project. We hope we will have your support for this project, which we believe is a very important part of the future of the village. If you are unable to attend we will be happy to accept your comments in writing. We welcome all comments both positive and negative to make sure that we provide the facilities you feel are important.
This is a members post by Drs Merchant, Thompson, Hall, Taylor (nee Gilmore) and Speake.
