Patients rally round and look to buy surgery after GPs announce retirement

The Brown Clee Patient Group in Ditton Priors has been going for a number of years, and provides a way for the practice to communicate and provide advice to patients.

However, at the last meeting of the group, one of the three GPs that run the practice, which serves around 4,000 people in the rural community, told the meeting that all three doctors at the surgery were planning on soon retiring.

Tina Ranson, chair of the patient's group said that as one of the GPs owns the building where Brown Clee Medical Building in Station Road, Ditton Priors, and is set to retire in December this year, they need to find new doctors to take on the £600,000 practice building.

"We don't think that a new GP is going to want to come in and have to get a loan to buy the building, so something has to happen," she said.

"It is early days yet, but we are looking at ways where we can perhaps buy the surgery to make it more attractive for a new GP to come in and takeover.

"The partners want to sell the practice buildings, ideally to patients, or a locally based charitable organisation set up to keep the buildings as a community asset. The sale of the buildings can happen during 2023 if suitable arrangements can be agreed.

"We are examining a whole range of options. There is the possibility of applying for grant funding that would match whatever the patient group can raise.

"We have also had a number of patients who say they are willing to invest in shares of the practice."

She said that the group was spurred into action because of the current difficulties in recruiting GPs into the NHS.

"The number of GPs has fallen by around 2,000, and those that are just qualifying often don't want to work in the NHS and get jobs in Australia," she said.

She added that patients have also proposing other ways to make the practice more attractive to newly qualified doctors.

She said: "We have had one patient who said they will offer a new GP free accommodation for up to six months, another who is offering free gardening services, and another who is offering after school care for any children the new GP may have."

She said the risk of losing the GP surgery had led to the patients at Brown Clee becoming "very passionate" about its fate.

"At our last patient group meeting we had 350 people turn up. We have a lot of older people at the surgery so this is really important to them."

The next meeting of the Brown Clee Patient Group is on July 4 at Ditton Priors Village Hall. Doors open at 6.30 and the meeting starts at 7.00 pm.