By Louise Hill - BBC LDR
A doctors’ surgery will be permanently moving out of its home in Wootton Bridge after just ten years.
It will leave the village without a GP surgery and will affect around 9,000 patients.
It had been said a temporary move of Wootton Bridge Medical Centre, on Brannon Way, was going to happen when cracks and ground movement were first highlighted in 2022.
However a temporary relocation is no longer a viable option says the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB), and it has now confirmed the practice’s permanent relocation to the former NatWest building on Newport’s Riverway Industrial Estate.
It was decided the temporary relocation would be too disruptive to staff and patients.
In a letter sent to patients and stakeholders this morning (Wednesday), Natasha Taplin, the ICB’s deputy director for the Island, said there are still significant structural issues at the Wootton practice which the landlords, Assura, had been trying to rectify.
At the time the cracks were revealed, the practice said it was a shock given the relatively young age of the building and that it would have to be knocked down and rebuilt.
Ms Taplin has said extensive work is required so discussions have taken place between the GP partners, Assura and the ICB to move the practice permanently in the Autumn, although no date has been set yet.
The Wootton Bridge Health Centre is part of Medina Healthcare and paired with a second facility on West Street in Newport but no appointments are held there.
The two branches would be under one roof as the owners of the second site in West Street, Newport want to sell it.
Ms Taplin said the new space at Riverway House will offer the practice the “opportunity for their staff to work together from one building, with more clinical rooms and space to expand services, as well as dedicated parking for patients and mobility access.”
She has also revealed the practice would be taken over by Solent NHS Trust, which will merge in the spring this year with the IW NHS Trust and Southern Health.
Ms Taplin says this will “secure the future” of the practice and allow a more direct pathway for patient care and better-aligned services across the Island.
The change would not have an impact on the day-to-day running of the surgery, the ICB has said, with staff working under new management.
GP partners will remain part of the team but become salaried GPs, instead of partners.
Ms Taplin said: “These changes present an exciting future for the practice and we firmly believe this is the best next step.”
The practice and ICB will carry out patient engagement in the coming months to help understand the impact of the move.
The medical centre was built and opened in 2014 after a long-run campaign by Wootton Bridge Parish Council to get a new GP surgery in the village.
Planning permission was obtained in October 2022 to turn the former bank into a GP surgery.
Assura has been contacted for a comment but the practice says there are currently no plans for the building.
Press Release