East Goscote Doctors Surgery Set to Close

Press Release from the Mahavir Medical Centre PPG
It is with great sadness that the PPG (Patient Participation Group) for East Goscote Mahavir Medical Centre, have to confirm that with effect from Friday 27th September 2019 our village surgery will be closing down.
Dr Shah has been providing excellent primary health care services to the population of East Goscote and surrounding villages for the last 25 years, we have been very fortunate to have Dr Shah responsible for our care. In the recent GP patient survey 94.9% of patients described the overall experience of the surgery as Good or Very Good.
There are 1393 patients who will lose this excellent service.
The surgery opened in April 1994 after the Medical Practitioners Committee in London approved the expression of interest, taking into account the views of the East Goscote population.
Financial constraints force our Doctors surgery to close making it harder for a patient to get the care they need
The surgery has been financially viable since 1994. When Dr Shah decided he wished to retire (2017), he appointed a partner (Dr Darji) who then decided to move area. Again in his efforts to keep the surgery open, Dr Shah appointed Dr Selva Kumar who also left the practice after a short while. Since November 2018 Dr Shah agreed with the West Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to operate single handedly although his desire was still to retire.
The CCG then agreed to explore alternative options one of which was to merge with the Jubilee Medical Practice in Syston. A public consultation was issued in May 2019 (at the Doctors expense) and the response from patients was very positive. The PPG were hopeful that following the consultation the surgery would remain open three days per week. However, due to the results of the building survey and lack of funds available from the CCG, the Jubilee Practice had no choice but to withdraw their expression of interest.
Dr Shah had further discussions with the CCG but was informed it would be too expensive to operate on a “care-taking” basis. The CCG made the decision to disperse the patient population and close the surgery.
Our nearest Doctors surgeries are in Syston. The Jubilee Medical Practice has 11,546 patients and only 66.9% of them rated their experience of making an appointment as ‘Good’.
The County Practice has 12,209 patients and 82.1% said their experience of making an appointment was good.
How will these practices cope with an additional 1393 patients?
Our Surgery needs to remain open and offer this much needed service to East Goscote.
Our new Prime Minister stated that we should not have to wait three weeks to see a Doctor – For East Goscote residents this will become the reality!!