MP Chairs Surbiton Hospital Meeting

Surbiton Hospital could be saved – and by local GPs. That’s the conclusion I reached after a meeting I chaired last week attended by nearly 30 doctors.

The idea for the meeting came to me after discussions with a few GPs last December. They face a new funding regime called “Practice-Based Commissioning” from next April, which allows them to run more of the services their patients need – in the community. Yet they are short of space – where could these healthcare services be? With half of Surbiton Hospital empty, it’s an obvious solution.

It’s early days. Understanding the full implications of the latest NHS shake-up is not easy. Yet GPs across Kingston have formed a steering group to pool ideas, and there’s talk of forming a co-operative. By sharing plans and skills, they could maximise the benefits to you and me – their patients.

My hope is that any GP co-operative will rent the empty space at Surbiton Hospital from the local Primary Care Trust. By adding new services to the outpatients still operating there, that could extend the temporary reprieve for the hospital beyond April, when a new threat of closure was looming.

Then, with Surbiton Hospital’s short term future more secure, we could continue the main campaign – to win the investment needed to build modern NHS facilities on the site. The consultation for that long term vision is coming soon – watch this space!