The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Two communities in danger of losing their GP surgeries
Burghead and Hopeman are in danger of losing their GP surgeries for good. Moray Integrated Joint Board will be asked to approve a consultation with patients to shut the two health centres permanently at a meeting today.
The move comes after a community engagement exercise showed strong support for the surgeries, which are branch centres of the Moray Coast Medical Practice based in Lossiemouth.
However, the practice does not want staff returning to work in Burghead or Hopeman.
It is citing growing pressures on primary care services, equality of care, problems with staff working alone and the unsuitability of the buildings as reasons.
The board will also be asked to approve a £170,000 upgrade of the Laich Dental Suite at the
Lossiemouth centre to accommodate patients who would have gone to the village surgeries.
It is estimated it would take £116,000 to upgrade the Burghead premises and £142,000 to fix issues at Hopeman – not including VAT – to bring them up to healthcare standards.
Both surgeries have been temporarily closed since the start of the Covid pandemic as they do not meet social distancing needs. Previously, they operated on a part-time basis seeing a combined total of 114 patients a week.
During the community engagement exercise 490 responses were received to a questionnaire.
A total of 226 people said access to a branch surgery would improve their health and wellbeing. Some 251 felt children were missing out by not having a GP service in Burghead and Hopeman, while 298 said it was important for older people to have branch surgeries close by.
A dial-a-bus service has recently been introduced to take patients from the villages and surrounding areas to appointments in Lossiemouth, running between 10am and 2.30pm Monday to Friday.
But there are still concerns there is no direct bus service connecting the communities.
NHS Grampian rents the Burghead surgery on Grant Street at a cost of just over £5,840 a year. The lease is due to expire in 2023.
The Hopeman branch on Harbour Street is GP-owned.
No action has been taken to find other suitable buildings in the villages.
Although the owner of the Burghead building has plans for upgrading the premises, they are unlikely to be taken forward.
In his report locality manager with Health and Social Care Moray Iain Macdonald explained opening the village surgeries was not a preferred option. He said: “Given the structural condition of the Hopeman building, it is not believed to be financially viable to bring the Hopeman branch surgery building up to the required standard.
“The Burghead branch surgery landlord representative has shared an initial proposal and building diagram to refurbish and extend the current building’s footprint, and to bring the current building up to the relevant legislative standards.
“This remains an option but would not be the preferred option of the Moray Coast Medical Practice or the preferred operational model of Health and Social Care Moray.”
The Moray Coast centre was built on land owned by the RAF with investment from NHS Grampian and private funding. It has a 25-year lease, due to expire in 2033.