Number of Melksham GPs is ‘sufficient’ says team behind St Damian’s closure

PLANS to close St Damian’s Surgery on Spa Road have been defended by its management team, who say there is ‘sufficient GP capacity’ to meet the needs of Melksham patients.

Bradford on Avon and Melksham Health Partnership (BoA&MHP), who manage St Damian’s Surgery, has also played down claims by patients that they have been ‘surreptitiously’ closing the surgery by reducing its opening hours and the services available, after a previous application to close the surgery was rejected last year.

The BoA&MHP management team claim that the changes have been made as a ‘last resort’ because of a ‘challenging recruitment environment’ and to ensure patient and staff safety.

News of the proposed closure has sparked increased concern in the community that there are not enough GPs in the town to support Melksham’s growing population. However, the BoA&MHP management team, say that the two remaining GP surgeries in the town offer a full range of services and are accepting new patient registrations.

Ellen Wilson from the practice management team for BoA&MHP, told Melksham News, “St Damian’s Surgery is a branch site, which means Bradford on Avon & Melksham Health Partnership are not required to provide a full range of services from St Damian’s Surgery, however all 20,500 patients are most welcome at all four of the Bradford on Avon & Melksham Health partnership sites. 

“The partners recognise that there are many loyal patients who have been with the surgery for a number of years, some all of their life, it is as a last resort, in light of a challenging recruitment environment and to ensure patient and staff safety, that these changes have been made at St Damian’s where 2,500 of our patients are registered. 

The pressures on GP services is well documented and for Bradford on Avon & Melksham Health Partnership, unsustainable spread across four sites and two towns. 

“There is no other GP surgery in Bradford on Avon for 18,000 patients. There are two other GP surgeries in Melksham who offer a full range of services in their single site surgeries, both of whom are taking new registrations and have sufficient GP capacity to meet the needs of these patients.”

This is the second time in 15 months that an application has been made to  to close the surgery. BoA&MHP says it cannot continue to provide a service in Melksham due to a lack of resources, and has asked to close the surgery at the end of March.

The application will be considered at a meeting of the Wiltshire CCG (clinical commissioning group) this Thursday, 30th January.