West Bromwich GP surgery could close under merger proposals

Staff and patients at Dartmouth Medical Centre, on Richard Street, could be transferred over to the Linkway Medical Practice if the closure goes ahead.

The practice is situated in the Lyng Centre for Health and Social Care, on Frank Fisher Way, and is a 13-minute walk away from the other.

A consultation, which closed on Friday, was launched over the proposals with patients at the surgery although no time-frame has been set for the move, if backed.

Sarb Basi, director of primary care for NHS Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "Linkway Medical Practice has submitted an application to close its Dartmouth Medical Centre branch site and for patients to receive their primary care from their main site at the Lyng Centre.

"Consolidating services at the main site will enable the practice to deliver a wider and more comprehensive service for patients. The practice has been engaging with its patients on these plans, with the engagement period set to finish on Friday. We have been supporting them with this process and will ensure any public feedback is captured appropriately."

A statement over the merger said working across two sites was presenting challenges to staff and patients.

It said: "Many of the patients registered at the branch site have used the main site at the Lyng and the same team of doctors and nurses have been working at both sites so are familiar with the Lyng site and the staff.

"We have an opportunity to extend our Lyng site giving us the opportunity to offer more services, better facilities, better access in a modern building for patients. The Lyng is only (13) minutes walking distance from Dartmouth and four minutes in the car.

"The Lyng is well services by public transport with the bus station and tram stop nearby."

An inspection of Dartmouth Medical Centre by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2017 made reference to a plan to merge it with the Linkway Medical Practice, adding: "the process had been started with adoption of policies from Linkway Medical Practice. There were monthly clinical governance meetings between the practice manager at Dartmouth, the provider and the business manager from Linkway Medical Centre to help with the process."