THE American health firm responsible for the care of more than 63,000 patients at GP surgeries in Basingstoke has set a date for a meeting with councillors to discuss concerns.

Labour Councillor Kim Taylor, a county councillor for Basingstoke Central Division, previously told the Gazette that councillors have been inundated with concerns from residents experiencing problems trying to see a GP, and claimed that Basingstoke was being ‘let down’.

Read more: Hour wait to call GP surgery as claims made that Basingstoke is being 'let down'

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We also revealed that some patients are having to wait hours just to get through to their GP surgery on the phone.

Now, Cllr Taylor has arranged a cross party meeting for next week (March 10) with Operose to discuss the problems.

Operose runs several GP surgeries in Basingstoke, including Camrose, Gillies and Hackwood (CGH) Partnership. 

Cllr Taylor said “ People’s concerns about their GP services and health care is more important than party politics and I asked Operose to invite all councillors representing wards where residents are affected.”

Cllr Taylor decided to take action and involve Operose directly because she claims that Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has not been responsive to the problems with GP care in Basingstoke.

The CCG is responsible for commissioning primary care services in Basingstoke.

A motion, proposed by Cllr Taylor, was passed by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council in December 2020 agreeing for the leader to write to the secretary of health and social care to ask for an “early intervention” and for the council’s Community Environment and Partnership (CEP) committee to “urgently review GP performance with the CCG”.

Cllr Taylor said: “So far I have no evidence that either of these things have happened, and indeed the CCG made it clear in the March 2021 CEP meeting that they were under no obligation to comply.”

The borough council said that representatives of the CCG attended the CEP committee on March 17, 21 to “discuss concerns expressed by councillors on behalf of local residents concerning the quality of service provision, specifically by GP surgeries. They gave a presentation and answered questions”.

However, the council said the leader, who was Cllr Ken Rhatigan at the time, “has confirmed he didn’t get a response to his letter” [to the secretary of health and social care].

Cllr Taylor will report back to residents following the meeting next week and is urging people to continue to give feedback using an online survey at basingstokelabour.org/gp-feedback-survey/.

Cllr Taylor is also keen to work with local patient representation groups.

A new Patient Participation Group (PPG) for Camrose, Gillies and Hackwood GP surgery has now set up an independent website with contact details.

It is holding two events on March 30 and April 5 at the Brookvale Village Hall so patients can share their experiences.

Patients can book to attend through the PPG website cghppg.co.uk.

A spokesperson for Operose Health said: "All of our GP practice teams are working hard to provide the access, care and support our patients expect. We continue to recruit more staff and invest in our services to do this. This year, we have employed extra GPs, a new pharmacist, a nurse and healthcare assistant who will be joining our group soon. To reduce call waiting times, we have also recruited more experienced reception staff.

"We know patients want to speak to our staff as quickly as possible. We have made improvements and have seen faster response times recently on our phone lines. Our tried and tested digital app will also be rolled out this year to make it easier to contact the surgery. We are making progress, but there is more to do. We look forward to discussing these issues with local councillors in the very near future."

Dr Matt Nisbet, GP partner and clinical lead of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight CCG, said: “General practice teams continued to treat patients throughout the pandemic as well as working on the biggest vaccination programme the NHS has ever seen. We are now seeing thousands of people daily with face-to-face appointments as well as continuing to offer patients the choice of face-to-face and remote appointments.”

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