Southside Surgery

The letter in appendix 1 was sent on 23/12/16 to:

Jeremy Balfour MSP

Miles Briggs MSP

Kezia Dugdale MSP

Neil Findlay MSP

Alison Johnstone MSP

Gordon Lindhurst MSP

Andy Wightman MSP

Ruth Davidson MSP

Tommy Sheppard MP

Steve Burgess

Jim Orr

Ian Perry

Cameron Rose

To date I have received one reply:

From: Duncan Wilson [mailto:Duncan.Wilson@edinburgh.gov.uk] On Behalf Of Cameron Rose
Sent: 23 December 2016 15:51
To: Philip McDowell <webmaster@sccedinburgh.org.uk>
Cc: Irene Aitchison <Irene.Aitchison@edinburgh.gov.uk>
Subject: RE: Southside Doctors' Surgery

Good afternoon Mr McDowell,

I have spoken with Cllr Rose and he has asked that i let  you know he has a meeting arranged with the Chief Officer, Edinburgh Health & Social Care in early January and will put this item on the agenda

Kind regards

Duncan

The other recipients of the letter were sent a chaser on Monday, 2/1/17, with the additional words:

I wrote to you just before Christmas, and I hope you received my letter. Just in case you haven’t, here it is again:

No replies have yet been received to this second letter.

Appendix 1

Dear

Southside Surgery

Members of the Southside Community Council have been aware for some time that there are problems within the Southside doctors’ surgery on Bernard Terrace. They have been looking for alternative, more suitable, premises for some time. When the development of student housing on the former Homebase site on St Leonards Street was proposed, in the pre application meetings the developers were keen to tell us that there would be space in the new building for the doctors’ surgery.

As time has gone on we have become increasingly concerned that the surgery will soon close, and patients left high and dry, as it seems there has been no agreement about new accommodation. Patients were informed in August that there are no plans to close the Southside Surgery. Then in September we heard that the practice will come under direct NHS management which provides “the opportunity to restructure practice teams and to explore new service delivery approaches”.

Three months later and we have heard nothing more. It is very worrying for patients who rely on the GP services for their healthcare, and who are wondering what they will do. Will they go along to the surgery one day and find it has closed? Permission has now been given to convert the premises back to residential accommodation, and it is unlikely that patients will be able to find places in other practices nearby.

As a Community Council we are very concerned for the wellbeing of the residents of the area, and wonder why things have reached this state. Why is the practice not moving to new accommodation in the Unite student housing in St Leonards Street? We understand that the rent initially asked for was too high, but lower prices have been offered – are negotiations still taking place? Is there a possibility that the practice will move to St Leonards Street? If not, what are the alternatives? Patients need, and have a right, to know what is going on. Accurate information will allow people to make appropriate plans, whereas the current uncertainty is bad for people’s health.

We need the Lothian NHS to take action. We understand that the University is able to offer temporary accommodation to the practice in the event that the current premises become unavailable before a new permanent home is ready, but before signing up to that the practice needs to know what the longer term future has in store. NHS Lothian needs to sign a lease giving a start date when the practice can move into new accommodation, so the University can know how long they need to accommodate the practice in its temporary home.

Please can you exert whatever influence you can to urge NHS Lothian to act, and quickly, and also to inform patients what the plans are so the current uncertainty can be dispelled.

Philip McDowell,

Southside Community Council.