NEWS FROM MEDWAY LABOUR

Medway Labour and Co-operative Group congratulate CCG on Progressive Approach to New Surgery Provider

Medway Labour Group have congratulated the CCG on a progressive approach to selecting a new provider to run the Five former DMC surgeries which have been managed by Medway practice Alliance (MPA) for the past year after DMC ‘s contracts were suspended following poor CQC reports. Patients have been invited to join a selection panel and will work alongside the CCG to appoint a new provider.

Cllr Teresa Murray,  Medway Labour’s spokesperson for Health said:

“ Our insistence that the patients’ voice matters has finally been accepted by the CCG.  It was patients who first raised concerns to their local Labour councillors about poor services at the former DMC surgeries. They were struggling to obtain repeat prescriptions, had difficulty in getting appointments and experienced very long telephone waiting times. Their concerns were dismissed as self-interest, but we were able to bring the issues they raised to the Councils Health Scrutiny committee and give patients the chance they deserved to express concerns directly to the CCG and DMC. It soon became clear that the CCG had not monitored DMC’s contractual obligations closely enough and failed to intervene early enough when things started to go wrong.

The new approach to appointing a provider shows that our long campaign for better services and support for patients’ voices to be heard have changed things for the better. When a new provider is appointed, we will continue to monitor the services and support the continued involvement of patients to ensure their expectations are met.”

Cllr Adam Price,  Member for Gillingham North Ward & chair of trustees, Sunlight Development Trust said:

“ I too welcome the Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group’s open and transparent approach to date in selecting a new provider of a number of GP practices in Gillingham & Chatham. Bill Millar and his team have worked hard at involving patients in all the practices concerned in the selection process. This is in stark contrast to the public meetings, scrutiny meetings and the demonstration outside the former Medway CCG offices which were all necessary when sadly patients’ voices and concerns were not being heard.

I congratulate too Dr Julian Spinks and the Medway Practice Alliance for stepping in and running the practices in a measured way on a temporary basis after the DMC former provider were rightly given their marching orders.”