When will the merger happen?
The process has already begun and we hope to be a new joint Practice by April 2018.
What will the new practice be called?
We would like your help with this! Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
How will I contact ‘my’ Practice?
For the time being nothing will change. You will continue to use the same building and telephone numbers as always. We will maintain our separate web addresses until the merger is finalised.
Who will my Doctor be? You will still be registered with your current Practice and Doctor, and will continue to be seen by them.
Why change?
We feel that unless small Practices in particular, combine, the governments’ plans for the NHS may mean that these small practices would have to close, due to both financial and commercial pressures. Therefore both Practices feel that we would be in a better position to offer our respective patients the same excellent standard of care, if we were to combine our collective skills and knowledge. The Practices have always worked closely together and the merger gives us the opportunity to expand and develop our services.
How will it affect you? You will not notice any change to start with. The same faces will be at reception and the same voices will answer the phone. We pride ourselves on the relationships we have with our patients and this will not change.
Will there be new staff to get used to?
To begin with the staff you see will be our regular staff. On occasion there may be new faces as we hope to start to integrate both sets of workforce.
Why it makes sense. There is no spare capacity at Cobtree to expand either space wise or indeed facility wise. Sutton Valence Surgery has the space to enable us to do this and we hope plans will allow us to extend the building to accommodate this. Both Practices share the same work ethic and values and are committed to excellent patient care and service delivery. As one Practice we will be more able to meet the responsibilities of helping with the planning and development of local health services.
More services will be available to our patients and you will have access to more clinical staff with a wide range of expertise in different areas of care.
Both Practices are using the same clinical system which will allow easy merging of patient data without affecting patient safety or care.
Merging the two Practices will enable us to be more efficient both in staffing terms (i.e. cover for planned and unplanned absences) and resources.
We will have better purchasing power for bulk ordering of drugs and stationery and this should free up resources for improved and additional services.