NHS chiefs reassure patients of Reeth Medical Centre

Facing criticism of their handling of the closure of Reeth Medical Centre, senior NHS officials told about 300 people who attended a public meeting at St Andrew’s Church, in Grinton, today (FRIDAY) that they followed the statutory process at all times over the issue.

The officers from NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB said distributing the centre’s 1,600 patients to neighbouring practices was the only option they were left with when the only bidder to take over the centre was found to be unsuitable.

The Wensleydale-based Central Dales Practice had stepped in to provide a two-day-a-week branch service in Reeth.

Practice staff were holding talks with the owners of the existing centre owners, Dr Mike Brookes and Marie Brookes, whose retirement has prompted the closure, the audience was told.

But the meeting of North Yorkshire Council’s scrutiny of health committee heard from patients who were still deeply concerned about the ICB’s involvement and the level of service patients could expect in the future.

Mother-of-two Hannah Waggett said: “Timely health interventions are at risk from the current proposal of just two days a week when appointments are available the full five days a week currently.

“If our children aren’t able to be seen in a timely manner, that is unacceptable.”

Patient Deborah Kerrigan asked the ICB what checks had been done to ensure the proposed changes would not put patients at risk and lead to a preventable loss of life.

She said members of the community felt “frightened, scared and still in the dark, adding: “Assigning somebody a GP at a surgery they can’t access because they have no car, there is no public transport, or the only road is both due to weather or roadworks — this really does happen here — has the same impact as not having a GP at all.”

Jill McMullon, chair of Hawes and High Abbotside Parish Council, questioned what the impact of the changes would be on existing Central Dales Practice patients and whether the plans being put in place were sustainable.

She said: “Rural areas deserve the same care as those living in towns and cities.

“The ICB has demonstrated a lack of care and a distinct disregard and lack of understanding for the area they cover.

“Their suggestion that over 1,200 patients could simply be transferred to Hawes was frankly ludicrous.”

In response to the criticism, after being asked why there had been no apology, Lisa Pope, the ICB’s deputy place director for North Yorkshire, said: “If people feel that there is something that we could have done differently within our responsibilities and as an ICB, then I absolutely apologise, if we have made people feel unsafe, unclear or unconsulted with.”

Asked how patients could continue to be kept safe, the senior officer said: “I think the answer is that you will be every bit as safe under the care of the Central Dales Practice as you have been under the care of Mike and Marie Brookes.”

But the ICB officials rejected criticism of the organisation’s communications, saying they had been unable to announce the closure during the process to find a new operator due to statutory requirements.

The meeting was told that the ICB attempted to find a new operator for the medical centre, but although there were a number of enquiries, only one bid was submitted which patients were told was not suitable.

Ms Pope stressed that the ICB had not chosen to close the medical centre, adding: “This is not an ICB decision, this is not a commissioning decision; it’s a decision that’s been made by the partners and the ICB is then duty bound to follow a distinct process that was set out in the statute of law and we’ve done that and we’ve done it at the times that we’ve been able to do that.”

The meeting heard concerns that no succession planning had been undertaken ahead of Dr Brookes’ retirement.

However, Dr Valerie Taylor, who has worked at the medical centre, told the meeting that Dr Brookes had made attempts over a number of years to find a GP to take over the business.

The ICB said they were unaware that the Reeth Medical Centre partners were going to hand back their contract until they gave notice in November last year.