Heather Wheeler has given her backing to the patients enrolled with Rosliston Medical Centre, near Swadlincote, which is being threatened with closure.
Last week, letters dropped on to patients’ doormats in villages, including among others, Rosliston, Coton-in-the-Elms, Walton-upon-Trent and Drakelow, inviting them to two meetings at Rosliston and Caldwell Village Hall to discuss the future of the medical centre.
Regrettably, the meetings were called at very short notice by the Practice responsible for Rosliston Medical Centre, Stapenhill Medical Centre, with some residents only getting two days’ notice.
However, despite the short notice, in the region of 200 local residents filled the village hall to standing room only to hear further details of the medical centre’s plight which includes issues with retention and recruitment of GPs, IT failures and a possible major refurbishment of the medical centre itself.
Dr Philip Needham, GP Partner and Mr Tim Brier, former Practice Manager at Stapenhill Medical Centre, gave a brief presentation which was followed by a heated question and answer session lasting for well over an hour. Mrs Wheeler spoke at the beginning of the meeting explaining that she had to leave to visit her husband in hospital, leaving a member of her staff there for the duration to record patients’ views.
Commenting on the meeting, Mrs Wheeler said:
“It was clear from the sheer number of people at the public meeting on Thursday afternoon just how much this service to means to patients.
I appreciate that the Stapenhill Medical Centre is experiencing a number of difficulties but for me, none of the options provided so far will give services at either Rosliston and surrounding villages, or over the border at Stapenhill, a sustainable future.
In response to the many concerns raised by patients this week, I will be writing to NHS England, NHS East Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Southern Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group, asking for assurances that the views of patients will be fully and fairly taken into account as part of a public consultation.
Patients have made their position on this issue very clear and they must be listened to.”