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Public meeting on threatened Mossley surgery
Walsall North MP David Winnick has urged patients who use the Abbey Square surgery on the Mossley estate to have their say on the future of their GP practice.
The Bloxwich surgery may be forced to close when two GP’s, married couple Abdul and Rifat Ghaffar, retire on March 31. The Ghaffars own the premises and NHS Walsall have said that they cannot afford to buy the building. Options open to the practice include relocating the 3,053 patients to All Saints surgery in Field Lane and the Pinfold Street surgery or NHS Walsall renting the premises to allow remaining GP, Dr Saema Saleem, to operate the Abbey Square practice with another new doctor.
NHS Walsall has arranged a public consultation meeting and MP David Winnick is encouraging patients to make their views known. He said: “There are over 3,000 patients registered, and as I have pointed out to NHS Walsall it would be quite a blow to the patients if the surgery was closed and the facilities transferred elsewhere.
“A public meeting has been called by NHS Walsall later this month at the surgery, this is part of the public consultation which is taking place, but apparently those registered as patients have not been directly informed about this.
“Correspondence from a number of residents suggests that the consultation is a meaningless exercise since the decision has been taken in effect to close the surgery in the very near future.”
Bloxwich West Conservative Councillor Louise Harrison said: “They have got over 3,000 patients, that alone tells you that it’s well used. There is a large elderly population on the Mossley estate, that’s what worries me. Even if they move it to Pinfold Street, it’s about whether the elderly people can get there. Even if they can drive, the parking there is horrendous.”
The public consultation takes place at the Abbey Square surgery on Wednesday January 27 at 11-45am.