GP practice to shut as another readies to open

A GP practice in Peterborough is set to close with patients offered the chance to move to a new ‘super surgery’.

Dogsthorpe Medical Centre in Poplar Avenue will shut its doors at the end of January, affecting more than 4,000 patients who will be offered the chance to join the new Nightingale centre.

The surgery is by then due to have opened at the John Mansfield Centre in Western Avenue where the former John Mansfield School used to be based.

A spokesperson for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group, which is responsible for GP practices in the county, said with the support of NHS England it “made the decision to close Dogsthorpe Medical Centre when the contract ends on January 31, 2020.

“We have been in regular contact with our patients about the end of the contract and are now contacting them to let them know the new arrangements.

“All current patients are being contacted to ask them to register at another practice of their choice, which could include the new Nightingale surgery that will open later this year.”

Plans for the new super surgery were approved by Peterborough City Council back in June 2016. At the time it was reported that the new centre would take over services run in Dogsthorpe, Welland and Parnwell, as well as Burghley Road Surgery and Church Walk Surgery, close to Lincoln Road.

However, at present it is only Dogsthorpe Medical Centre which is due to close.

A CCG spokesperson added: “Further detail regarding the new Nightingale centre will be communicated to the local community as construction of the building enters its final phase, as well as other necessary processes such as staffing and progress.”

Dogsthorpe Medical Centre will be holding drop-in sessions for patients who would like further information or assistance . These take place on November 14 from 12.30pm to 1.30pm and on November 19 from 6pm to 7pm.

Dogsthorpe Medical Centre in Poplar Avenue