'Inadequate' Spalding doctor's surgery to close in September
A Spalding doctor’s surgery judged "inadequate" twice within the space of the past year is to close for good next month.
Pennygate Health Centre, whose clinical leaders were slammed for “a lack of focus and accountability” in a report last October, is to close on Friday, September 7.
Dr Azmeena Nathu, GP Partner at Pennygate, is to retire on the same day after 32 years of working in Spalding, having qualified as a doctor at the Welsh National School of Medicine (now the University of Wales College of Medicine), Cardiff, in 1981.
Meanwhile, the surgery's 3,460 patients will be temporarily transferred to Johnson Community Hospital, Pinchbeck, while a "full consultation exercise" is carried out by South Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which oversees healthcare in Spalding.
A South Lincolnshire CCG spokesman said: "Dr Azmeena Nathu will be retiring from general practice after 32 years’ extensive service to her patients in Spalding.
"Following Dr Nathu’s retirement, Pennygate Health Centre will close on September 7, 2018 and South Lincolnshire CCG, along with NHS England, have worked together on an interim arrangement to patients can continue to access GP services while longer-term arrangements are considered.
"From September 10, 2018, Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) will provide GP services to Pennygate-registered patients from the Johnson Community Hospital, Spalding.
"From September 10, 2018, Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) will provide GP services to Pennygate-registered patients from the Johnson Community Hospital, Spalding.
"Patients currently registered at Pennygate do not need to take any action and will automatically transfer to Johnson Community Hospital under the care of LCHS, where they will be able to access the same level of primary care services, with the exception of dispensing services for which patients will need to go to a pharmacist of their choice.
"We appreciate that there will be some patients for whom this interim arrangement is not convenient and, in this instance, they can register at another GP practice provided their home address falls within the practice's catchment area."
The spokesman confirmed that none of Pennygate's staff will lose their jobs and instead be transferred to Johnson Community Hospital "to provide the GP services" under LCHS.
He added: "Once we have established the service at the Johnson Community Hospital, we will undertake a full consultation exercise with those registered patients to ensure we provide an easily accessible service locally."