Churchdown and Tuffley Surgery Projects

20/04/2006

PCT Board members today reiterated their backing for two ‘essential’ GP surgery development projects and said that they ‘deeply regretted’ not being in a position to date to give final approval to these schemes.

Chief Executive of West Gloucestershire PCT, Stephen Golledge said:

“We have and continue to be 100% behind the Churchdown and Tuffley schemes and have been working in partnership with the practices in developing their plans for a number of years.”

“They remain the top two estates priorities for the PCT and there are very clear reasons for this. As part of the local community we share the same desire to see these schemes progress.”

“We would like nothing more than to commit the required funding to make these projects happen, but we are not in a position to spend any money on new developments, beyond those which are a legal or unavoidable commitment, until deficits are cleared and we are on a firm financial footing.”

“In both cases, we acknowledge that that the current GP premises are in urgent need of replacement and it is with great reluctance that today we deferred a final decision on the Churchdown project for up to three months until our financial plans are finalised.”

“The GP Practices concerned, as well as a range of community partners, have worked extremely hard on developing these exciting schemes and that includes a number of our own staff who have provided project management support.”

“We will continue to do all we can to make these projects a reality for the benefit of local patients and healthcare staff, but we need people to understand the unavoidable financial and service challenges we currently face.”