Sandiway surgery to close despite campaign to save it

Sandiway surgery, which has many elderly and vulnerable patients on its books, had been earmarked for closure by Danebridge Medical Practice (DMP) back in 2019.

The surgery has been at the heart of the village for more than 75 years, and before the pandemic was handling around 6,000 appointments every year.

However, at its meeting on July 22, the Primary Care Commissioning Committee of NHS Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) approved the application made by DMP, to permanently close its doors.

Although an exact date for the closure is yet to be confirmed, the CCG has confirmed that it won't happen any time before October of this year.

In a statement, the CCG said: "The CCG has now formally written to Danebridge Medical Practice outlining that the exact date of the closure still needs to be confirmed following agreement of a branch premises closure plan between the CCG and the Practice.

"The CCG has been clear to the Practice that this will be at a date no sooner than 90 days from the date (July 22) of approval of the application by the Committee.

"The Committee, at its meetings, also instructed the Practice that as part of its close-down plan that it needs to continue to engage with and communicate with its patients so as to ensure that patients are aware of the changes and the date that they will take effect.

"Furthermore, the Committee has requested that Danebridge Medical Practice maintains a continual dialogue with its patients and the communities that it provides services to, listens to the feedback it receives around its service offer, and provides ample opportunity for its patients to shape the delivery model so that it meets the needs of its patients and continues the work it is undertaking to address the concerns raised around access and support to services, especially those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and/or who may face barriers to access services."

Sandiway Surgery will close despite a determined campaign to save it

The rubber stamping of the closure has come as a bitter blow to those campaigning to save the surgery, with concerns about its impact on the vulnerable people living in the village.

A spokesperson from the Save Our Surgery Residents Action Group said: "Save Our Surgery group have worked tirelessly to retain a surgery in the local area and are incredibly disappointed at the decision.

"There are a number of vulnerable people in the village who have been in contact with us over the campaign.

"Since the decision is to close the surgery, they will struggle to access primary healthcare services in the future, despite the attestation of Dr.Mullin.

"It shows the strength of feeling and the need for a surgery in the village when Healthwatch Cheshire has confirmed that to receive 242 messages objecting to the closure reflected "a huge strong feeling from the community" and DMP itself recently received 190 formal letters of complaint from patients in recent months.

"We cannot understand how villages such as Tarporley, Tarvin, Tattenhall and Kingsley, with smaller populations than Cuddington and Sandiway, can retain a surgery when the CCG decide to close one in a village with a population of around 6,000 and supporting 14 per cent of DMP's patient list.

"Before the pandemic Sandiway was handling 6,000 appointments a year.

"Based on DMP comments at the CCG meeting they will be totally reliant on their triage system and remote consultations as their mainstay.

"Face to face consultations will become substantially less frequent although they may be available if the patient insists.

"We can only hope that DMP take on board the CCG guidance and improve their communication with their local patients so that the patients can understand how DMP will support their access to primary care.

"This is what they committed to do in the meeting, and we would encourage patients to insist that this happens."