New town centre site to be opened as part of GP surgery's expansion plans
Melton Mowbray’s only GP surgery is expanding its services to patients and says it is ‘confident’ it can meet the needs of the increasing population in the town.
It was announced last week that Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (ICB) was pausing its quest to set up a second doctors’ practice in the town until 2027.
Plans to convert Phoenix House into a surgery were thrown out because of a lack of funding and a slow rise in new patient registrations at Melton’s Latham House Medical Practice (LHMP).
It leaves the Sage Cross Street practice, with more than 36,000 patients, as the only town surgery for at least the next two years at a time when thousands of new homes are being built locally.
But LHMP say it has recruited five new GPs and it is preparing to open up a new clinic site in the town centre, as well as planning to staff its Asfordby surgery full time.
Dr M Riley, CEO and Partner GP at LHMP, told the Melton Times: “As a Practice, we are confident in our ability to continue to grow and meet the health needs of our expanding community.
"Clinician recruitment has been particularly challenging for a number of years which has left our own team with gaps, impacting on longer wait times for routine appointments than we would like to provide.
“These are recruitment challenges that general practice nationwide has been facing.
“However, we are pleased to confirm that we have recently recruited five new GPs, alongside a nurse and two nursing associates, to expand our team and improve access to care.
“Everyone should be in post by the end of this year, and we look forward to writing to our patients to introduce them.
“Furthermore, we are actively developing plans to convert the former Jupes shop on Sherrard Street into a new facility featuring three additional clinical rooms, a reception, and a patient waiting area.
“This is also in addition to our planning for staffing our Asfordby site full time.”
Dr Riley said Latham House had not been involved in the planning for the proposed second town surgery but that ‘we share the community’s frustration regarding the insufficient funding allocated to general practice’.
He pointed out that 95 per cent of patient care takes place in general practice but this sector has continued to see an inadequate level of NHS funding.
Lobbying is ongoing, he said, in a bid to get the government to better support general practice for the benefit of patients.
Dr Riley added: “We believe that the new members joining our team alongside bringing this new site into operation and developing existing space will significantly improve appointment availability and enable us to offer enhanced hours in the town centre.
“We are incredibly proud of our team at Latham House and the monumental efforts they go to every day to support our community health needs.
“Our commitment remains steadfast in providing the best possible care to our patients, and we will continue to work tirelessly to meet the growing needs of our community despite the current challenges.”
Latham House Medical Practice say it delivered over 265,500 appointments last year – representing 6,900 appointments per 1,000 patients, which is well above the national average.