At the recent Park Hill and Whitgift Residents Association meeting one of the key topics was local health care provision.
Many residents in particular raised the position of East Croydon Medical centre. I flagged with my Conservative colleagues and also contacted officers for an update.
I have been provided with below that I hope will be of interest to those who raised at the meeting.
- when will Addiscombe Road site reopen fully
The East Croydon Medical Practice has been continuing to grow in size and capability over the years. Their list size reached over 20,000 registered patients. In order to continue to provide high level of care, they needed to continue to grow their reception, admin and clinical teams, which also posed the requirement to expand the premises.
In order to achieve this, in June 2021 the Practice has moved out of Addiscombe Road to temporary accommodation for a year while the building undergoes a significant expansion.
We cannot provide the exact day when the Practice will be able to return back to Addiscombe Road, but the project is for 12 months approximately. So, if all building works will proceed according to the plan, the Practice is expecting to open the services again in Addiscombe Road next year.
All East Croydon Medical Practice registered patients were informed about this by letter. The copy of the letter is attached.
However, to reiterate - all general practice services are available to East Croydon Medical Practice patients during this time at Edridge Road Community Health Centre, Impact House, 2 Edridge Rd, Croydon CR0 1FE.
- why am I only able to see one GP - they referenced Dr Jenkinson
It is not clear what the real issue is here. However, we are certain that the practice has quite big team of clinicians and they are all seeing patients. I would advise for this resident to raise the issue with the practice directly. It may the simple coincidence or even the intended effort from the practice side to keep continuity in patient’s care. As CCG we do not look or even have access to individual patient cases, so we are not able to provide more information on individual cases.
-why do I have to have virtual or telephone appointments.
This is not the specific case for this practice only.
General Practice has been a critical partner in the fight against coronavirus, with primary care clinicians and practice staff working tirelessly to care for their patients. At the start of the pandemic, primary care adapted quickly to significantly increase the availability of video and phone consultations and offer safe face to face care when needed.
We know that most practices (including East Croydon Medical Practice) have made considerable efforts to remain open and accessible through the pandemic. Face to face appointments have been available throughout and the reality is that primary care clinicians are seeing more patients than ever, with nearly one million more appointments in July 2021 than July 2019. Therefore the recent criticism of General Practice in the media is very disappointing and hugely demoralising.
East Croydon Medical Practice (like most other practices in Croydon and nationally), offer the appointment as a telephone call from the GP initially. If the GP decides that a face-to-face appointment is necessary, then the patient will be invited in at an agreed time and date to the surgery.
Routine GP appointments as before can be booked in advance on the date of the patient’s choosing, however there can be a delay of a few weeks as these get booked well in advance. These too will initially be telephone appointments, with the GP then inviting in any patients that require face-to-face.
If critical appointments are required, then as always patients are advised to call 111 to speak with an emergency cliician, otherwise attend the local Accident and Emergency department if necessary.
Nurses appointments mostly require face-to-face appointments for practical reasons, and these continue to be booked via reception at a time and date of the patients choosing.
All Patient face-to-face appointments are provide at Edridge Road Medical Centre (due to building works at Addiscombe Road). However , the phone number remains the same for all enquiries.
There was produced the attached leaflet to explain to patients why GP practices are still working differently and to help them access primary care services appropriately. This leaflet was share with all South West London CCG practices.
