GP surgery reopening a great relief, says patient

Patients have welcomed confirmation their GP surgery will reopen on 1 April after being closed since 2022.

Parnwell Medical Centre, in Saltersgate, Peterborough, shut after subsidence and structural safety concerns made the building unsafe, leaving about 1,700 patients to seek care elsewhere.

When speaking at a residents' meeting on Thursday, Mohsin Laliwala, who owns the practice, said that "it has taken considerable time to resolve the building issues, secure resources and restore the premises".

Yelena Stevic, who lives close to the surgery, said: "It's a great relief because this community has really felt the loss of our local doctor surgery."

Laliwala said the closure initially stemmed from service changes during the Covid pandemic, when smaller surgeries were temporarily consolidated into larger sites.

As the building was unused its condition worsened and it was further affected by vandalism and a break-in that damaged equipment, he added.

The practice's partners invested about £25,000 after external support from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System (ICS) was paused, he said.

He added discussions about ongoing funding for the medical centre were continuing.

During the closure, patients were redirected to other practices managed by the partnership, including Ailsworth Medical Centre and Newborough Surgery.

However, many residents told the meeting that travelling to appointments proved difficult and costly.

Some described struggling to get an appointment and one person said she was "forced to go to A&E" for an abscess-related issue.

Stevic said: "It would take me two buses to get to the nearest doctor's surgery, which is Nightingale in Dogsthorpe.

"It's not always convenient health-wise for me to do so, so that would mean taxi, which is an expense that a lot of people just cannot afford."

Another patient Sandra, who did not want to give her surname, said: "It is such good news, we're so relieved and we appreciate all the work the doctors and the councillors have put in to fight to get this surgery reopened."

Samantha Hemraj, a Labour councillor for East Ward on Peterborough City Council who chaired the meeting, said this has been a "long-time coming" and she was "pleased" with the reopening had been confirmed.

She, along with Labour councillor and leader of the authority Shabina Qayyum, called on the ICS to offer more support in reinstating the GP practice which was "much-needed" in the area.

ICS representatives told the meeting's attendees that an assessment of the building is scheduled for 18 March ahead of the planned reopening.

They added that they were working with the practice to restore services as soon as possible.

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