A BRANCH of a surgery based in Burtonwood could close.

Vista Road Surgery is a GP practice located in Newton‐le‐Willows, with a total registered patient list of 8,500.

The surgery has a branch site located in Kinnock Park, Burtonwood, which, due to historical boundary changes, comes under Warrington for ‘residential status’.

Included in the 8,500 registered patients there are 1,350 patients residing in Burtonwood.

The purpose of a report to Warrington Borough Council’s health scrutiny committee at its meeting on Thursday is to provide information relating to the engagement being undertaken by Vista Road Surgery in relation to the branch in Burtonwood.

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The partners of Vista Road Surgery have commenced an engagement process with their registered patients, with the view to submitting a formal proposal to close the site permanently following the engagement.

The report to the committee says the proposal is based on the practice view that ‘they cannot safely sustain a high quality service’ over two sites due to the national issues regarding workforce shortages in primary care.

All registered patients of Vista Road Surgery have been made aware of the engagement process.

The report says: “Due to building issues and subsequently Covid, the site has been out of operation since 2020.

“The GP partners at Vista Road Surgery are engaging with patients about a proposal to permanently close the site. This began in November 2022.

“At this point, no formal application to close the branch has been made by the practice, and the outcome of the engagement will be taken into account when the practice makes a final decision on whether to formally apply for a branch closure.

“The practice do not believe that they have the workforce to safely manage delivery of high quality services across two sites.

“Nationally there is a workforce crisis in primary care, and St Helens practices have struggled to recruit GP workforce across many of its practices.”

The report also states that the practice has assured residents that access to services for housebound individuals or those needing a home visit will be unaffected, while residents will continue to get the ‘same access’ to out of hours services and other wrap around care, such as the acute visiting car.

It adds: “But the proposal is that no routine or urgent appointments will take place from Kinnock Park, they will all be provided from the Vista Road site.

“This proposal maximises the efficient of use of workforce, and will enable the practice to continue to deliver the maximum number of appointments possible, which will benefit all 8,500 registered patients.”

The committee is recommended to note the content of the report, await the outcome of the engagement and wait for a formal application to be made by Vista Road Surgery and, if or when this is received, ‘further discussion will take place between St Helens Place and Warrington Place about the next steps’.