A doctors’ surgery in Brighton will offer more appointments when a new contract takes effect in three weeks’ time.
Six GPs (general practitioners) will work at the Wellsbourne Health Centre, in Whitehawk Road, seeing patients from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday.
The fresh start at Easter comes after a challenging couple of years. The surgery’s future was thrown into doubt in January 2016 when the old owner, the Practice Group, said that it was pulling out of its five surgeries in Brighton.
Doctors at a nearby surgery, Ardingly Court, in Kemp Town, stepped in to keep the surgery open in the autumn of 2016, operating it as a branch surgery.
But from Sunday 1 April the Wellsbourne Health Centre and Ardingly Court will revert to being two separate practices.
The doctors at Ardingly Court – Samantha Barker and Eleonora Turlini – are preparing for another change.
Their surgery is moving from Ardingly Street across the Old Steine to new premises in Palace Place, by the Royal Pavilion, in September.
The contract to run the Whitehawk practice – which shares its premises with the Broadway surgery – has been awarded to the Wellsbourne Healthcare Community Interest Company (CIC).
It will have six GPs – Veronica Sutcliffe, Helen Dirmikis, Posy Greany, Zoe Ballantyne, Christa Beesley and Johannes McGavin.
Doctors Sutcliffe, Ballantyne and Beesley are also directors of the CIC.
As well as more appointments, the surgery is offering extended appointments and home visits, providing a more proactive form of care and reducing avoidable dependence on the local hospital.
Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said: “The new service will offer an improved primary medical provision, delivered by a multi-disciplinary team, including GPs, advanced nurse practitioner, practice nurse, healthcare assistant, pharmacist and health engagement worker.
The CCG said that it would provide extra funding for the surgery to improve health in the community.
And it would be supporting the practice to provide a range of extended services, including community health engagement workers.
Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust (SCFT), the local provider of NHS community health and care services, will support the CIC to deliver the new contract.
The CCG said: “Residents in the Whitehawk area face additional health challenges compared to the wider population, including higher rates of heart disease, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – or lung disease) and cancer, more emergency hospital admissions and more adults and children living in poverty and more smokers than the national averages.
This is an excellent surgery with dedicated and caring staff. Credit to Wellsbourne for making this happen.