The Eston Surgery

Dedicated to family care

Public Involvement Report

Closure of Jubilee Road branch surgery

January 2012

Dr Paul Chatterjee of the Eston Surgery

Branches at

LowGrangeHealthVillage, Normanby Road TS6 6TD

and

10-12 Jubilee Road, Eston, TS6 9ER

Closure of The Eston Surgery’s Branch at Jubilee Road

Introduction

The Eston Surgery originally operated from two premises, 10-12 Jubilee Road, Eston and 75-77 Bolckow Road, Grangetown,with a list size of 3000 patients.

The Surgery’s premises were severely out-dated and in need of major renovation and modernisation. These premises unfortunately would not have met the essential standards that the CQC (Care Quality Commission) and DDA (via the PMS contract) would have expectedfrom GP practices next year.

Proposal

In order to ensure that patients could access care in premises which were fit for purpose, the practice agreed with NHS Redcar and Cleveland that the Jubilee Road branch would close, and the surgery would operate from one location, Low Grange Health Village

The distance between 10-12 Jubilee Road and LowGrangeHealthVillage was 1.8 miles.

LowGrangeHealthVillageis a purpose built venue for the provision of health care. It offers safe and accessible surroundings which will promote wellbeing for both patients and staff. There is ample free car parking, a pharmacy on site and bus services passing regularly.

Low Grange is open from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with clinics on Thursday evenings until 7pm

Informing and Involving Local People

The Eston Surgeryand NHS Redcar and Cleveland wished to ensure that awareness was raised of therelocation and information was on display in the practice waiting areas, in newsletters, and on the website. Comments were welcomed and could be made via a suggestion box in the Practice’s waitingareas or by emailing the practice manager on All comments have be collated and included in Februarys’ newsletter on the Practice’s website

The closure of local surgeries including The Eston Surgery’s Jubilee Road branch to Low Grange Health Village was included as part of the Greater Eston Health and Social Care Village formal consultation from 25.07.05 to 31.10.05.

Overview and Scrutiny were asked to note the content of a briefing and highlight any additional issues that they feel may need addressing in informing and involving the local community and how they wish to be involved.

The benefits, for the patients, of closing Jubilee Road premises are:

  • Improved access
  • Improved facilities and services
  • Premises fittings and fixtures in good repair
  • Improved security for patients
  • More car parking
  • More centrally located to South Bank, Teesville and Normanby patients
  • All Services with lift access
  • Site is on many main bus routes
  • Improved access for disabled
  • Adequate disabled toilet facilities
  • Facilities for baby’s (Changing area)

Benefits for the practice are:

  • A better working environment
  • Improved equipment and facilities
  • Improved security for staff and premises
  • Sufficient consulting rooms for all clinicians
  • Adequate staff facilities

We believed that closing Jubilee Road and only operating from Low Grange willimprove access, choice and flexibility, and would enable the Eston Surgery to deliver a wider range of services into the future.

Involvement

As part of the process of developing new premises we wanted to give all patients the opportunity to view the plans and comment on the proposed development.

Every prescription counterfoil had the closure identified during December and January. Letters informing patients about the closure were attached to every prescription during this time. Letters were also given to every patient that attended during January. Information about the closure was added to the practice website, to R & C borough council’s Twitter and Facebook pages. Information was available in both waiting rooms during December and January. Views could also be submitted in writing to the surgery or posted in the suggestion box in the waiting areas, or via email to the Practice Manager . The opportunity to comment on the proposals was from Monday 5th December to Friday 27th January 2012

We asked for patient views on:

  • What you think of the proposal to close Jubilee Road branch
  • Any other comments or suggestions?

Engagement also involved the following groups:

  • Local Involvement Network
  • Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee
  • Local councillors
  • Stakeholders

Summary of Responses

No responses were received from the Local Involvement Network, the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, local Councillors or other stakeholders.

Telephone calls

2 patientstelephoned the surgery and agreed with the closure, having attended Low Grange, one patient felt they could see the difference that a new building could make to being positive about their own health and social circumstances

Suggestion Box

6 comments were received in the suggestion box, all the comments were positive about the closure. Two felt the practice should have closed Jubilee Road when it closed Bolckow Road branch

Emails

0 emails were received;

In person

The practice receivedmany verbal comments from patients and other stakeholders – all were very positive about the closure, and agreed it was the right decision given the condition of the premises andlack of parking/disabled / baby change facilities at Jubilee Road.

We would like to thank all the patients for their comments, which included

“I think Low Grange is great, clean and modern – I can’t believe I used to think Jubilee Road branch was posher than Bolckow Road”

“Nice, clean and modern – should have done it with Grangetown”

“Better place for staff too”

“About time – Eston was a dump!”

“The staff work really hard and deserve a nice environment to work in”

“Will be even better when I can call and get my shopping from Tesco’s next door”

Staff comments

“I love it –much safer - no more locking and unlocking all those padlocks in the alley on cold wet and dark days”

“It’s great – we are all on one site now and improvements to our services are happening all the time”

“We can look forwards now –start new plans,we don’t have to worry about not meeting standards”

“The patients deserve to be seen in warm, light, new and modern surroundings”.

“We can now offer new clinic times and better services to our patients”

“It’s been a difficult year, with moving two branches but everyone is happy to be working together in one building”

“I’m glad all the patients recognised (like us) that the other buildings were no longer a viable option and a this building was the only answer”

Taking Involvement Forward

All comments received as part of the involvement activity outlined above will be considered over the next few months as part of the proposal

Many thanks to the patients and staff who contributed to this involvement

We have found the contribution very valuable and will continue to seek your views in the future