After the announcement last week that two Bridlington GP practices – Manor House Surgery and Practice Two at the Health Centre – are to merge, the Humber Teaching NHS Trust responded with details of how the merger will affect patients.
A spokeswoman for the Trust confirmed that the merger taking place this week is to bring together the clinical systems used by the practices.
“The practice will be closed briefly from 4pm, Tuesday 14 June until 10am Wednesday 15 June to allow the systems provider needs to move everything to the merged system. During this time patients can contact 111 or their local pharmacy for health advice and support, and to be signposted to appropriate services.
“The merger will create a single list of patients over two sites. By allowing patients at both sites access to the combined expertise of a wider clinical team we will continue to offer personalised care to our patients with long term conditions as well as be able to respond to those who have a more urgent health needs. In a nationally challenging recruitment environment it will also have a positive impact on our ability to recruit and retain a wider mix of skilled staff.” explained the spokeswoman.
Both practices have almost 15,000 patients combined, with Practice Two having 6623 and
Manor House 8387.
Responses to all the questions that we put yo the Trust are as follows:
Do all Manor House patients now need to visit Practice Two or will both remain open?
Both sites will remain open but now be known as ‘Humber Primary Care’. The merger will only affect the systems that the practice’s use.
Will there be any additional doctors/health professionals employed by the Trust to keep the service levels acceptable?
There will be no difference in service levels on a day-to-day basis for patients.
We are currently recruiting a range of roles to further strengthen our fantastic multidisciplinary practice teams including GP’s, Practice Nurses and Administrative Assistants.
Will any primary care services be affected?
There will be no difference in service levels on a day-to-day basis for patients.
Are there any plans for further mergers/closures with any other Bridlington GP practices?
There are no further planned mergers for practices operated by Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust.
The notice period given to patients has caused concern due to the very short length of time given, particularly with the cessation of prescriptions for five days. Surely this was known well before the announcement?
The merger only affects online systems.
Patients can continue to call or attend their practice for prescriptions in the 5 days that the online system is unavailable.
