PATIENTS and councillors are demanding to know when Emersons Green’s GP surgery, which has been shut for five months, will reopen.
Emersons Green Medical Centre, in St Lukes Close, which serves more than 11,000 patients, closed suddenly in October.
A notice posted on the locked car park gates says the closure is temporary and “due to the heating and hot water not working”.
The message from Green Valleys Health, which runs the surgery, said the decision was necessary for infection control and patient comfort and was “not a decision made lightly”.
Ward councillors Katrina Al-Hassan and Rachael Hunt raised concerns over the situation facing patients, who are being given appointments at the group’s other practices in Downend and Yate, at a meeting of South Gloucestershire Council’s health scrutiny committee.
Cllr Al-Hassan said there are “greater problems” than the closure, with the surgery’s booking system “not fit for purpose” and needing to be urgently addressed.
Cllr Al-Hassan said the continued closure was an “urgent matter”, adding: “The funding needs to be secured quickly so the necessary repairs can be made.
“Why was the building left in such a state that it forced the closure?”
The practice’s sister surgery at Leap Valley, Downend, is a five minute drive or longer bus journey away and Cllr Al-Hassan said it was “not accessible” for all Emersons Green patients.
She asked: “Have alternative options been considered? Perhaps a temporary clinic somewhere local, like the science park or village hall?”
Cllr Al-Hassan said that when she asked for residents’ opinions of the current situation on social media all the responses were negative, particularly about the booking system.
She said people reported “being unable to get through on the phone in the 8am rush and not hearing back if they fill in an online form.”
Cllr Al-Hassan said she was “deeply concerned” by one person’s experience.
The patient said she had to go to A&E after not being able to make an appointment directly using the booking system, and when A&E staff contacted the medical centre to arrange follow-up care, the medical centre did not call her back.
Cllr Al-Hassan said: “When the patient went to the surgery in person to talk to the receptionist she was reduced to tears by the conduct of the staff.”
She said many patients said the care they received from GPs was “amazing”.
But she said: “The booking process is clearly letting the whole practice down and needs to be urgently addressed.”
Cllr Al-Hassan said the situation highlighted the lack of provision in the area.
She said: “It is a great shame that a GP surgery was not secured for Lyde Green, as that population has exploded over the last 10 years. I believe that the funding was instead given to Emersons Green Medical Centre.
“It is time for transparency to show where that funding was used.
“Perhaps it is time to talk to the developers or the government about additional funding and/or another bid for a Lyde Green surgery, if Emersons Green cannot keep up with the quality of care for the number of patients?”
Fellow ward councillor Rachael Hunt said she shared Cllr Al-Hassan’s concerns and gave an example of her own experience, when she had to make three calls to the NHS 111 service and a visit to a minor injury unit after repeated failures of the medical centre’s booking system.
Responding to the councillors’ comments, a spokesperson for Emersons Green Medical Centre said: “We apologise for the temporary closure and the intention is to open in the near future. We continue to work with our Integrated Care Board to find a solution and discussions are ongoing.
“In the meantime, patients continue to be cared for at our Leap Valley premises and Emersons Green Medical Centre is continuing to take new patient registrations. We will continue to provide updates through patient communication channels and our web-site.”
The practice has been giving advice updates to patients on its website and Facebook page about the closure.
A recent post saying that Emersons Green Medical Centre was “still open for new patients” and encouraging people to sign up was met by criticism from patients.
One said: “Existing patients can’t even get appointments but you’re still taking on more. Where is the logic?”
Another said: “I’m struggling to understand how a heating and hot water problem can take this long?
“If Emersons Green is never going to open again, perhaps some transparency around that would help those understand why they can’t get an appointment for love nor money!”
Boyd Valley ward councillor Ben Stokes told the health scrutiny meeting in late January that funding for services had previously been discussed but the committee had not heard back from the
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, which is in charge of funding the region’s GP services.
ICB deputy chief executive Sarah Truelove, who was at the meeting, said she would make a written response to the councillors.