Plans for Shropshire’s GP hub halted by NHS

As reported by the BBC, a plan for six GP surgeries to relocate into a medical centre in Shropshire has been indefinitely halted

A range of services from the NHS, council and other groups would have been provided by the proposed health and wellbeing hub in Shrewsbury.

Opponents raised concerns including over access for residents and earlier this year NHS England paused the plan.

All further work and spending on the scheme has now been halted, NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin said.

“This is a hugely disappointing position given the significant amount of work that has been undertaken,” chief medical officer Dr Nick White said.

When NHS England paused the scheme, they said it was to focus on developing the plan’s business case.

But Dr White said there was no further communication of when the case would go forward for approval and, even if it did, there were no guarantees of government funding.

Critics of the project included a group of retired GPs as well as residents and their issues included traffic concerns and how people would get to the new hub.

The six surgeries due to move were Claremont Bank, Marysville, South Hermitage, Marden, The Beeches and Belvidere.

They ranged between 2.6 miles (4.2km) and 0.8 miles (1.3km) from the favoured hub site in Meole Brace.

The decision to halt work was “extremely challenging” for the surgeries and they would have to plan for an “alternative future”, Dr White said.

“We will of course do all we can to avoid practice closures, but we will need to consider the consequences of practices that may no longer be able to continue to provide services, and as a result hand back their contract,” he added.

Discussions were under way with the six practices, the NHS said.

Local Lib Dem councillor Alex Wagner called for the proposed funding to be invested in the existing practices.

“For many residents, the scheme posed a fundamental threat to their ability to access primary care services,” he said.

“In a town the size of Shrewsbury, having one hub for 40,000+ patients was always going to be a huge logistical task – and have a major fallout.

“The one silver lining to plans was that NHS England saw there was sufficient need to spend £40-60m on GP services in Shrewsbury.”