NHS bosses have been urged to revisit a decision to close a Tuebrook medical centre.
In less than four weeks time, Park View Medical Centre on Orphan Drive could shut its doors for the final time after health chiefs were unable to secure a new provider for the service.
In a letter seen by the ECHO, 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.”
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As the community-led campaign to save Park View rolls on, Members of Parliament representing constituencies impacted by the closure have written to the ICB opposing the move.
The text, drafted by Labour MPs Paula Barker and Ian Byrne, was sent to Mark Bakewell, ICB director of place, outlining their “pressing concerns regarding the proposed closure of Park View Medical Centre.” It said: “We have considered the feedback we have received from the meeting and the information which we received at a meeting with the Chair and Chief Executive of Mersey Care, alongside papers you have provided to us so far.
“We note that your position at the meeting was that you could not change the decision to close the practice and disperse patients to other practices in the area, however this is a position that we simply cannot accept.” In documents also seen by the ECHO, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust has confirmed its intention to dispose of the site but not reached formal approval.
Minutes of the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside system primary care committee said the building has “not been properly maintained over the years.” In their letter, the MPs for Wavertree and West Derby laid the blame for this squarely at the ICB.
They said: “We are now reaching the conclusion that the practice is at risk because of a failure by Cheshire and Merseyside ICB and Mersey Care (as the landlord) to take the necessary steps to protect its long-term future. It has served the community for decades and there was no evidence of clinical failure at the practice and having considered the survey of the building which has helped inform your decisions, the required works outlined in the report are no more than a reasonable person would expect of an ageing building which requires its key infrastructure to be modernised, which clearly hasn’t happened.”
Dozens of patients and community leaders gathered outside the centre last week in a show of solidarity and echoed their vow to protect the service. Jimmy Woods, chair of the patient participation group, said: “This has been a magnificent journey and we’re not going to stop until we save it.”
In their correspondence to the ICB, Ms Barker and Mr Byrne said the body had “failed” in its main purpose to meet the health needs of the population. They wrote: “Our constituents are at the sharp end of the difficulties in primary care, which we have no doubt will be exacerbated by the current proposals to close Park View and disperse patients to already overstretched services.
“We are therefore calling on the ICB to revisit this decision with the utmost urgency and enter meaningful discussions with us, Mersey Care, Patient Participation Group representatives and other stakeholders to consider the urgent steps that can be taken to save the service.”
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