Health Secretary may decide 'outrageous' Hartlepool GP centre closure plan

The practice at Hartfields has been closed temporarily since the start of the Covid pandemic.

The latest Hartlepool Borough Council full council meeting received an update on The McKenzie Group Practice’s proposed closure of Hartfields Medical Centre, at Bishop Cuthbert, which caters for nearly 2,200 patients.

The practice says bringing services together at its other sites in town will improve quality and efficiency.

A final decision was initially expected to be made this month.

Councillor Jonathan Brash, who represents the Burn Valley ward on Hartlepool Borough Council, has called the proposed closure "nothing short of an outrage".

Yet another round of public consultation is likely to begin soon and take 12 weeks to complete.

Cllr Rob Cook, chair of the audit and governance committee, told the full council that this means it will be February or April by the time any report goes to Tees Valley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for approval.

Cllr Jonathan Brash raised a motion at the meeting, which was unanimously backed, to give the council’s scrutiny committee power to refer a final decision to Secretary of State Sajid Javid.

This will speed up the process and remove the need for the committee to seek permission for the referral from the full council.

Cllr Brash said this is key as there is currently a national bill being considered which could remove the ability of local authorities to refer matters like this to the Secretary of State.

Cllr Brash added: “The closure of this practice is nothing short of an outrage and yet another health service disappearing from our town, as so many have in the past.

“If the committee detects they are about to lose the power to hold McKenzie Practice to account then on that day we want the referral of the Secretary of State to happen.”

The medical centre has been temporarily closed since mid-March last year due to the pandemic.

Dr Carl Parker, from the practice, speaking at the audit and governance committee last month, said “no decision” had been made on the permanent closure and they are “still very much in a period of engagement.”

He added they would be applying for Hartfields to remain temporarily closed, however, due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Among the opponents of the proposed closure is the Joseph Rowntree Trust, which runs the surrounding Hartfields retirement village, while an online petition at change.org has attracted more than 400 signatures.