Patients in Stamford will be relieved to hear that a new lease has been signed enabling the much-loved St Mary's surgery to remain open. However, uncertainty persists as regards its future use because the new lease is not with the Corby based Lakeside Healthcare Group, but instead it’s with the Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) which has secured the availability of the site for the NHS.
The Patient Participation Group [PPG] is pleased that Lincolnshire NHS Clinical Commissioning Group [CCG]and has declared its intent in 2021 to develop a plan for how the long-term health needs in Stamford will be met, particularly in the light of the projected population growth.
In the meantime, Lakeside Healthcare Group have agreed in principle to continue to operate from St Mary’s, and the CCG and Lakeside are currently working on the detailed arrangements for this.
Whilst, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the temporary service changes made in earlier this year have meant that primary health care delivery in Stamford is currently focussed on the Sheepmarket site, the CCG will be working with Lakeside to plan appropriate service restoration at St Mary’s when the time is right in 2021.
It is really positive to learn that the CCG has listened to and responded to the patient voice and now have a way forward for St Mary’s. In addition, because of concerns that have been raised by the way Lakeside Healthcare Group has conducted themselves, the CCG will, in due course, commission a review of how this situation arose.
Andrew Nebel, Chair of the Patient Participation Group expressed his thanks to the enormous public pressure and the energetic involvement of the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group for Lincolnshire for securing this positive outcome. “We are delighted to learn that this important, centrally located medical centre is to remain available to the people of Stamford and the surrounding neighbourhoods” he said.
“It was clear at the outset that delivering the primary care needs of 32,000 patients through the Sheepmarket surgery alone was not feasible. Not least given its physical limitations, but also its positioning on the eastern edge of Stamford, which is projected to grow significantly towards the north and west.”
“The Covid pandemic is understandably seriously impacting the provision of healthcare and we recognise that continued difficulties will present in terms of how primary care is delivered through both St Mary's and Sheepmarket. It has not been confirmed yet, but there is a possibility that St Mary's may become a dedicated vaccination centre in the coming months.”
Longer term the PPG believes that continuation of health care provision through St Mary's is only a first step in defining a strategic approach to primary care delivery in our area. With our population predicted to grow to 50,000 in the next decade, it is clear that reliance on a single private contractor to the NHS i.e., Lakeside Healthcare Group, lacks the resilience and capacity needed to deliver sustainable patient need.
Furthermore, as the NHS moves towards integrated care systems, where primary, secondary, community and social care are brought together in a harmonious way of working, attention has to be given to the peculiar Stamford geography.
The structure of healthcare is still organised around county boundaries, which we know in the case of Stamford, ignores the practical behaviour of our population. Many Stamford patients get their hospital care from Peterborough in Cambridgeshire rather than Lincolnshire hospitals which are many miles to the north.
So, this is the challenge the PPG is setting itself. We want to work with the CCG, the STP and NWAFT and other providers to provide a strong patient voice that influences the design of our future healthcare system.
We want to thank all of the people, who have supported us, in the at times uncomfortable, challenge to keep St Mary's open and hope that support for our efforts to design a robust long term healthcare system will continue to be received.
We would also like to thank the support received from the Health Scrutiny Committee of Lincolnshire County Council, Kelham Cooke Leader of South Kesteven District Council and Councillors Julie Clarke and Harrish Bisnauthsing of Stamford Town Council. We also recognise the invaluable support of our local MPs Gareth Davies and Alicia Kearns as well of the individual efforts of many patients who are too numerous to mention.
It's regrettable in opposing the ill-judged decision to close St Mary's that relationships between the PPG and Lakeside have become fractured. The PPG appeals to Lakeside to put these differences behind us and start working together to listen more attentively to the patient voice and move forward together.
The PPG is planning to hold its Annual General Meeting at the end of January, facilitated by Lincs CCG, and detail of the exact dates and how to attend will be announced shortly.
Kind regards,
Andrew Nebel,
Chair
Lakeside Healthcare Stamford Patient Participation Group
