GP wins lengthy campaign to keep running surgery

A Lancashire GP whose patients launched a campaign to keep her as their doctor has been told by NHS bosses that she can remain at the helm of the surgery she has run for more than a decade.

Dr Ann Robinson had faced two-and-a-half years of uncertainty over her future at Withnell Health Centre near Chorley after other providers were invited to bid to take it over.

She said she was "completely delighted" to be able to continue leading the health centre on Railway Road.

The saga began following the dissolution of a previous partnership between Dr Robinson and another medic at the surgery in late 2021.

Under NHS rules, anybody can pitch for a practice's contract.

The outcome of that procurement exercise in January 2023 originally resulted in a decision to hand the centre over to a conglomerate that operates more than 40 practices across the north-west of England.

The decision was met with fury by patients, however, with more than 1,500 lodging objections with the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB).

That depth of community feeling – along with acknowledged flaws in the NHS’s initial public consultation exercise – saw the decision scrapped and the whole process was restarted.

Dr Robinson and her team had to put together a second bid to keep control of the practice and were advised on Thursday that it had been successful.

She said patients' support had shown the enduring importance and appreciation of "the family doctor”.

"That’s what people want – and the continuity [it provides] is what works best. If I know your history and what has helped you in the past – and what hasn’t – it is better for patient care.

"People feel so strongly about this place – some have been patients here for 50 years and they can tell you all the GPs that have looked after them."

Dr Robinson, who took charge of the practice in 2013, turned out to be the only bidder for the contract.

She put this down to the local campaign demonstrating the depth of support for the existing service.

The GP thanked not only those residents who rallied around the cause, but also loyal staff, whom she described as being "amazing".

Professor Craig Harris, chief operating officer of the Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB, acknowledged it had "taken some time" to reach a decision.

But he added: "Our commitment has, at all times, been to ensure the process was carried out as quickly and fairly as possible to support the patients of the practice and the staff who work there – and I am confident this has been achieved."

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