Minutes:
The Board considered a report of
the Strategic Director, Communities which gave Members
an update on the recent Patient and
Public consultation regarding the potential closure of the nurse led Windmill
Hill Access Centre.
The Board was advised that a report had
previously been submitted to Halton & St Helens PCT Clinical Commissioning
Committee in October 2010 and to the Finance Performance Approvals Committee on
27th April 2011.
The Board was further advised that prior to 1997 the residents of Windmill Hill
had access to a singled
handed GP
practice for their health needs. However, when the GP had left, the existing
patient list had been distributed between Castlefields
and Murdishaw practices.
Ms Chris Turner, Halton & St Helens PCT and Ms Elaine McDowell,
Since opening, the access centre had provided health care for people who
had coughs, sore throats, rashes, and many other minor illnesses. However,
people who had more complex or long term conditions required the continuity
provided by their own GP.
On the 29th January 2010 the new Equitable Access GP practice had been
opened to the residents of Windmill Hill, and now had a list size of 1173
patients. The new GP practice provided an enhanced service to that available
at Windmill Hill
Access Centre. For example: Women’s Health Clinic, Well Woman Clinic, Well Man
Clinic, Mother & Baby Clinic,Travel Health, Smoking
Cessation, Phlebotomy, Respiratory Clinic and many more. There had also been an increase in the
opening hours and the facility was available seven days a week.
In January 2011 the PCT had completed a three month
consultation with the residents of Windmill Hill regarding the access
centre. The results from the
consultation highlighted the need for access to health care. It was proposed to
close the nurse led access centre from 1 August 2011.
The following comments arose from the
discussion:-
· The Members noted that the Member for the
Windmill Hill ward was not in attendance at the meeting;
·
It was noted that there would be no job losses as a
result of the changes;
·
Clarity was sought on how the changes would be
communicated to the community. In
response, it was reported that the Primary Care Trust would be developing a
full communication plan to ensure the community were aware of the changes. In addition, patients had already been
registered at Murdishaw and Castlefield surgeries;
and
·
It was noted that the new GP centre was fully
accessible for people with disabilities.
RESOLVED: That
(1) the report and comments raised be noted; and
(2) Ms Turner and Ms McDowell be thanked for their verbal presentation.
Supporting documents: