A holistic health centre’s plans to keep the Eaton Place GP surgery open have failed after running out of time.
The Brighton Health and Wellbeing Centre was set to step in to keep the surgery open after its two current partners, Malcolm Stalker and Robert Mockett, retire at the end of this month.
But patients were today told they will have to register with other GP practices after all after “a range of factors” scuppered the plans.
When news of the GPs retirement first broke, NHS England originally said that there was not enough time to run a proper and legal procurement process to enable the practice to continue with new doctors.
But last month, it agreed to keep the centre open so Brighton Health and Wellbeing could take it over.
In a statement issued today, NHS England said: “Another local GP practice had hoped to open a branch surgery at Eaton Place after the closure of the existing practice and had been working hard to achieve this.
“Due to a range of factors it is no longer viable for the practice to go ahead with their plan to open a branch surgery at Eaton Place.
“Our priority is to support patients to choose alternative arrangements for their care so they can continue to access the full range of GP services.”
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove said it was disappointed at the news, and concerned that the alternative practices were not able to take on affected patients.
In a statement, it said: “We are very concerned about the future care of Eaton Place patients.
“We have requested a clear statement from each of the other GP practices suggested by NHS England on whether they are accepting Eaton Road patients, including information about any restrictions on catchment areas.
“We hope that by doing this, we can save patients from calling the listed practices only to find out that they are not actually able to register with them.”
Healthwatch can be contacted by calling 01273 234 040 from 10am to 12pm, Monday to Friday or by emailing help@healthwatchbrightonandhove.co.uk.
