Surgery to close after doctors retire

AN “increasingly unviable” branch surgery in Weston-super-Mare is set to close after the GPs who ran it retired.

The two partners want to take back control of 4 Stafford Place from November 1, so the Stafford Medical Group’s 11,500 patients will all be seen at purpose-built facilities in Locking Castle.

At its last inspection, the Care Quality Commission said the closing surgery, in a converted terraced house, was good but needed considerable investment.

The doctors made their ambitions clear with a planning application to turn the building back into a home, which was granted in 2018.

Their closure application said: “The Stafford Place branch site is proving increasingly unviable. Valuable clinical time is lost travelling to/from Locking Castle to the branch site and the building itself needs significant investment.

“Covid has proved that Locking Castle is able to completely absorb the clinical, staffing and administrative workload from Stafford Place and have had no adverse patient feedback to this effect during this time. The two retired partners who own Stafford Place are keen to have their building released to support their retirement plans.

“Given the many years they have given Stafford Medical Group patients this seems reasonable. The proposed closure of Stafford Place provides a more sustainable future, a better service for patients and a cost saving to the CCG.”