The fight to save a Liverpool medical centre from closure is to be taken to Parliament.
Park View Medical Centre in Tuebrook is scheduled to close its doors in July, marking the end of its contract with its current medical provider. In a letter seen by the ECHO earlier this year, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside integrated care board (ICB) said efforts had been made to find another provider to manage the practice, “but unfortunately this process has not been successful.”
In a bid to keep the practice open, members of the community and political leaders have come together, with a public meeting held last week to demonstrate the strength of feeling.
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Among those in attendance was Ian Byrne, Labour MP for West Derby, who met with representatives from the ICB on Thursday. He told the ECHO now was the time for the campaign to ramp up the pressure.
He said: “We put our argument across and questions that were raised in the public meeting. We’re going to keep on fighting for the community.
“Myself and Paula Barker (Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree) are going to take this to Parliament after recess to try and get the Secretary of State for Health involved in the decision. We have to ramp this up politically now and keep being positive.”
Around 70 people gathered at Christ Church in Tuebrook last week alongside politicians from across the city including Mr Byrne, Cllr Liam Robinson, the newly elected leader of Liverpool Council, as well as ward members Cllrs Steve Radford, Billy Lake and Joe Dunne. Jimmy Woods, chair of the patient participation group instigated following notice of the decision to close Park View, said the GP surgery “belongs to the community” and they would fight to keep it open.
He said: “It’s about the future of our surgery which has been going for six decades and we want to keep it going for another six decades.” Mr Woods paid tribute to the efforts of PPG members who had “been out with petitions and posters and played a magnificent job, sometimes at the sacrifice of family and friends.”
The practice contract, held by Dr Jude’s Group Practice, ended on March 31 and in a letter seen by the LDRS, Jan Ledward, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside place director, said the practice has been earmarked for sale after no new provider could be found and concerns had been raised about the condition of the building, with all registered patients to be moved to different practices.
Liberal Party group leader, Cllr Radford, said he had concerns that the 2,800 served by the surgery would not be able to access adequate care elsewhere and would put additional pressure on other medical centres.
He added: “We’re fighting for every surgery in the community because every surgery will suffer if this closes.” His group colleague and Tuebrook Larkhill ward member, Cllr Billy Lake, said: “We’ve seen this before, we’ve fought it before and we’ll fight it again.”
Mr Byrne told the ECHO he was to meet with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust to discuss the process, while campaigners are expected to stage a demonstration outside the medical centre on Wednesday.
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