Chatsworth Road Medical Centre
Report by Local Democracy Reporter – Eddie Bisknell
Six Derbyshire surgeries are to provide nearly 90,000 more appointments as part of a major expansion of facilities.
New details have emerged from the NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board on which surgeries will now benefit from £1.5 million worth of funding, what it will be used for and how many new appointments it should create.
Derby and Derbyshire are host to 107 GP practices, which provided 7.27 million appointments last year.
The new batch of appointments – a combined 89,000 more across the six surgeries – represents a 1.2 per cent uplift of appointment levels per year.
Here are the six GP surgeries to benefit from the new funding, via the Government’s Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund:
- Chatsworth Road Medical Centre – Chesterfield
- Lime Grove Medical Centre – Matlock
- Stubley Medical Centre – Dronfield
- The Park Surgery – Heanor
- Matlock and Ashover Practice – Imperial Road site, Matlock
- The Valleys Medical Centre – Dronfield
The £1.5 million in funding will provide a total of nine clinical rooms, five consulting rooms and a number of accessibility improvements including new lifts.
Of the 89,000 new appointments, the GP surgery with the largest gain is the Valleys Medical Centre in Dronfield, set to offer 31,875 extra appointments per year, through a new extension containing five consulting rooms and internal layout changes.
Matlock and Ashover Practice’s Imperial Road, Matlock, site is set to gain the next most new appointments with 19,125, by utilising loft space to provide three new admin rooms and then repurposing the former admin rooms as three clinical rooms, along with a new stairlift.
The Park Surgery in Heanor and Stubley Medical Centre in Dronfield are both set to provide 12,750 extra appointments apiece.
Stubley will gain two new clinical rooms, an extra admin office, multi-purpose work stations in the basement alongside other clinical and admin upgrades to provide further space.
Park Surgery will gain two new clinical rooms, improved access by moving the front entrance and creating extra space by moving a cleaners store.
Lime Grove Medical Centre in Matlock and Chatsworth Road Medical Centre in Chesterfield will both gain 6,375 appointments per year.
The Matlock site will gain one new clinical room, one extra admin office and further multi-purpose work spaces.
Meanwhile, the Chesterfield site will gain one new clinical room and start work on installing a lift to the upper clinical rooms.
Dr Amanda Sullivan, chief executive of the NHS Derby and Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB cluster, said: “Our GP teams do an incredible job, so I am delighted to see major investment going into more and better facilities for patients and staff.
“We recognise though that more investment is needed, and will follow, as we move towards more co-location of services through the development of Neighbourhood Health Centres.
“Thank you to all our general practice colleagues for delivering a record number of appointments last year and helping to meet the ever-growing demand.”
Karin Smyth, Minister of State for health, said: “NHS patients – and the brilliant staff who care for them – deserve modern buildings, reliable equipment and services fit for the future.
“Too many NHS buildings are crumbling and outdated. This government is taking the long-term decisions needed to rebuild the health service.”
