The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
New management secured at five city GP clinics amid £5m shake-up
Five GP clinics in Aberdeen are coming under new management as part of a £5 million shake-up which prompted some doctors to walk out.
Last year health bosses voted to find independent GP-led partnerships to run practices at Old Aberdeen, Camphill, Carden, Marywell, Torry and Whinhill.
They were being directly managed by the NHS – the only practices left in the city still working under that structure.
Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership (ACHSCP) said the restructure will make the practices more “sustainable” – but one union claimed it paved the way for privatisation.
It also prompted all nine Old Aberdeen GPs to resign in protest against the timing of the decision and general uncertainty it posed.
A report going before next week’s Aberdeen
Integration Joint Board, which oversees the work of ACHSCP, has revealed the successful bidders for each GP practice:
Camphill Medical Practice – 2C Social Enterprise Group.
Carden Medical Centre – 2C Social Enterprise Group.
Old Aberdeen Medical Practice – Newburn.
Torry Medical Practice – 2C Social Enterprise Group.
Whinhill Medical Practice – OneMedical Group.
No bids were received for the Marywell homeless practice, which moved into the Timmermarket Building due to flooding.
An Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership spokesman said: “Patients do not need to do anything as part of this management change-over and we will keep them fully informed as the process moves to completion.”