Patients only find out GP surgery is closing through Evening News

“Did you know this?” I screamed at my husband, as if he would hide such important news. “No, of course I didn’t, are you sure?” “Read this,” I said, passing him my iPhone.

Polwarth medical practice is one of three located at Tollcross Health Centre

It transpires that NHS Lothian, which has managed the Polwarth medical practice since 2016, had decided to close the practice for financial reasons and to move its 5,000 patients to another surgery. Trouble is, NHS Lothian had not bothered to consult the staff about the closure, and then decided to brief MSPs about it before telling patients, which is how I, and hundreds of others, ended up finding out about it in our evening paper.

I immediately fired off Mrs Angry emails to my local MSP and a couple of councillors. It turns out that NHS Lothian didn’t work out that if they told politicians about a vital service closing before posting out letters to the users, it would likely end up in the media before the second class post arrived.

My husband and I finally got a letter – addressed to Dear Patient(s) – a week after reading the Evening News. A week where we both fretted about our healthcare. Both of us need daily medication – me for high blood pressure, my husband for chronic asthma. My husband is waiting for an operation to remove a non-harmful tumour from his face. While we don’t visit our surgery very often, we do depend on it and its staff to keep us as healthy as our age allows.

Polwarth surgery is a small inner-city practice. I have been on its books twice since 1997. Its staff are always friendly, and as helpful as they can be given the pressure they are under. Even the 8am dash for appointments isn’t too bad. I trust them, literally, with my life. It is a terrible indictment of the way our health service has been managed in recent years that NHS Lothian can close a GP surgery down without consulting the staff or telling patients first.