Plan to Convert Bedford Park Surgery into Flats Approved
NHS say their intention is for patients to transfer to new primary care hub in Acton
Bedford Park Surgery
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The application to close Bedford Park Surgery on South Parade has been approved by Ealing Council.
The future of the facility remains unclear as registered patients were told last month that there were ‘no immediate plans’ to close but this may have now changed with the go ahead being given to the application to convert the building into three flats.
The approval was granted with some minor conditions relating to cycle store provision, parking and refuse storage despite 150 objections.
A document submitted with the application made on behalf of Dr John Keen states that, “It is intended that The Bedford Park Surgery will close and all patients will be allocated to nearby GP surgeries in accordance with NHS procedures. The property will therefore be vacant and the key design principle is to return the property into residential use”.
NHS Estate Development did not object to the application and told the council by email, "At this stage the practice has not submitted paperwork to the CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group) to close the site however as the site is in a converted residential property it would not be a building the CCG would look to retain should the GP retire.”
They added that the Bedford Park Surgery is close to the planned East Ealing hub which will be located either at the current Acton Health Centre site or on an adjacent site across the road. The CCG is intending to encourage smaller local practices within a mile to relocate to this new hub to provide a wider range of integrated primary care services as part of their longer term strategy.
Their email stated, “Whilst the decision to close the site has not progressed through CCG governance at this stage (I am presuming the GP will not progress a full business case and associated Quality and Equality impact assessments unless planning is obtained) it is highly unlikely that the CCG would wish to retain this site in the long term as the retention of the site does not align with its long term estates plans for the area."
The council were forced to reconsult about the closure after complaints that the initial consultation had not been handled correctly following the submission of the application on 23 December 2019. Most patients at the surgery were unaware of the plan until a couple of days before the original deadline for responses. A site notice had not been placed on South Parade until a few days before and had been advertised in the Ealing Gazette which is not circulated in the area. Ealing Council normally publicise planning applications in the newspaper which is distributed by depositing copies at various points throughout the borough but it is believed that there are no deposit points within a mile of the surgery. The local MP Rupa Huq wrote to Ealing Council asking them about the validity of the consultation and it was subsequently decided to repeat the process despite the council claiming that it had fulfilled its statutory consultation requirements for this application.
The semi-detached property at 55 South Parade has served as a doctors’ surgery for decades. It had transferred from a premises in Rusthall Avenue but the planning officer rejected the claim by some objectors that a condition of planning approval being granted was that the building should remain a Doctors’ Surgery.
There are 3,360 patients currently registered with the practice and there is concern that should the surgery close it may become difficult for those displaced to find alternative NHS provision in the area. The Chiswick Health Centre is to close for redevelopment and many of the 20,000 patients there may also be looking to find a new GP. The alternative provision for the Health Centre is in Stamford Brook and not close enough to bus routes for people with limited mobility but NHS Estate Development dismissed these concerns saying that the alternative provision during the Health Centre closure was close by.
Previously the surgery has announced that it was Dr Keen’s intention to retire at the end of the year. We have asked Dr Keen for comment.
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March 16, 2020
