NHS England reviewing estate as GP practices have ‘twice as much’ space as needed
GP practices have ‘about twice as much floor space’ as needed, prompting a review by NHS England on how this could be better utilised by neighbourhood services, the commissioner’s chair has said.
Dr Penny Dash said that NHS England is working with every ICB to work out ‘where we have we got space that we can use’ in ‘poorly utilised’ GP premises for neighbourhood health services.
Speaking at the Company Chemists’ Association conference, which was attended by Pulse’s sister title Healthcare Leader, Dr Dash said: ‘We are actively doing some work at the moment in NHS England, looking at our estate, but broad finger in the air, we’ve got about twice as much floor space that we use for GP practices and associated services than we actually need, twice as much.
‘Now, of course, many of those practices are in poor condition. Many of those practices are poorly utilised again.
‘It’s true that often they are busy between 8:30 and 11:30 Monday to Thursday, and it’s true that they’re busy between 3:30 and 6:30 Monday to Thursday.
‘If you turn up between 11:30 and 3, that’s, “you know, we’re out doing visits”. I’m like “yes, you’re busy, but you’re not using the space”.’
She said that this was a ‘really significant mindset shift that we’re going to need to go through’ for neighbourhood services to work in the most efficient way.
She added: ‘If we want to invest in either refurbished or new facilities for neighbourhood health, for out of hospital care, then it makes sense to do that in an efficient way.
‘We’re not a country that’s sitting on trillions and trillions that we can invest in loads of new buildings.’
Today, experts giving evidence to the House of Commons’ Health and Social Care Committee pushed back on Dr Dash’s statement.
RCGP vice president for member standards Dr Jamie Hynes said: ‘We have 64% of partners in our latest survey saying they don’t have sufficient space to accommodate staff.
‘We have 500 practice managers [in the survey], 74% of them say they can’t recruit because they have a lack of physical space.’
Louisa Wood, chief operating officer at GP practice group Mereside Medical said: ‘I just have to laugh at the idea, to be honest, that there’s twice as much space available in our case, our GIA [gross internal area] is 952 square meters for Stratford Medical Centre.
‘Our ICB zone formula says we should have double that, and the reason we don’t is because of delays trying to get a newbuild built, and the consequence of that is really significant.
‘It makes me quite cross, actually, to think that there’s a message out there that is telling you that it’s easy, that we have lots of space, that the working environment that we can offer to our staff is anything approximating acceptable.
‘It’s embarrassing. We have to have staff meetings in our cars because there is no meeting room. We don’t have enough consulting rooms to see the patients.’
It comes after the Government said it would approve the first proposals for neighbourhood health centres by the summer, however it has received a lot of ICB proposals for estates upgrades that it ‘can’t afford’.
The Government plans for 250 neighbourhood health centres to be created in England, which NHS England advised should be ‘anchored around general practice’.
RCGP surveys have previously found that four in 10 GP practice staff describe their premises as ‘unfit for purpose’, and a third of GPs say their practice is ‘inadequate for providing care for patients’.
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READERS' COMMENTS [17]
Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles
“‘If you turn up between 11:30 and 3, that’s, “you know, we’re out doing visits”. I’m like “yes, you’re busy, but you’re not using the space”.’” – who else could use the space on unpredictable short notice in a manner that would actually be productive? Where is that person the rest of the time?
What an awful example.
Between 11 and 3 (when I’m not doing a visit) is when I’m reading letters and doing prescriptions. In my room. That isn’t free.
Tell me you don’t really understand GP without actually telling me……
Dr Penny Dash has already done a Ratner. Is she trying to see whether she can out stupid her previous comments????
Don’t rise to this nonsense Another idiot talking about things that they have no understanding or actual day to day experience of.🤪
Don’st rise to this naive nonsense Total lack of understanding of GP premises and how they work. Hot desking is not an option
Hilarious comments and classic clickbait for dummies.
Hot desking is an option – it is currently being utilised up and down the country in many practices who have no space whatsoever to juggle trainees/undergraduates/out reach clinics/AAA screening/talking therapies/pcn pharmacists etc etc etc.
Where do find these NHSE “experts” and who the chuff is holding them to account for expensive incompetence??
If you turn up between 11:30 and 3, that’s, “you know, we’re out doing visits”. I’m like “yes, you’re busy, but you’re not using the space”.’
What planet has this Dr been working on? Come visit my surgery, please. I will show you what is happening between those hours in every room in the building. What a professional embarrassment to be quoted for all GP staff to see. Goodness forbid this is the attitude that is held by anyone else in a position of power or influence
Good comments. Trying to work what the angle is for Dash carrying water for someone (but not GPs) who will be making money out of these silly proposals.
She says “we’re not a country that’s sitting on trillions and trillions that we can invest…” Rubbish and a neoliberal trope. Our financial sector including cash, pensions, insurance, Isas (quite often parked in funds that are poorly performing, high management fee) holds around £10,000,000,000. That’s 10 trillion. Do your homework, Dash.
Put that money to better Productive use for our economy, instead of it unearning economic rent for banks and money managers.
GP Practices in Dr Dash’ area are obviously very different from most practices around here.
Admittedly many Practices used to have a room in use by DNs, and one by HVs, who have both been moved out so to prevent closer interaction and collaboration between the teams, because it was helping patients too much, which may have freed up a little room, at cost to patients.
Some lucky ones have also been developed with a view to holding patient meetings, educational and public health improvement group sessions within the building, and new parent and expert patient and PPG groups, which were then withdrawn or banned by pandemic regulations etc, but many certainly need even the waiting room space from 08:01 am until close to 1800 pm or later, with very little unused time between 11 and 3 !!!
Stupidest person on earth
If NHS England manages to cleanse all GP lists to zero then we don’t have any estate issues whatsoever and will have reduced the NHS budget massively as gp contracts cost the NHS at least 75% of it said PD at the South Pacific Puffin appreciation society
GP ‘reading letters’ you must be joking. I recently attended A&E with pseudo-gout of the knee (normal urate, apyrexial , marginally raised neuts) but a very painful (crutches) haemarthrosis (DOAC) . The summary loaded on my GP record did not mention the 190ml ‘bloody’ aspirate (huge relief) but states ‘Septic arthritis ‘ refuDed’ (presume typo for refused) I/V Antibiotics,
Retment complete – and not a peep from GP, nor anything summarised !!!!!
*** !!!!!
This make Donald Trump look coherent by comparison.
This idea that space is available for clinics between 12 and 3 is ridiculous…we aren’t out on visits..it is lunch and we are using the computers filing paths..and doing paperwork it is strange that the estate planning feels that they think that neighbourhood working can work on this back of fag paper working …between 12 and 1 or 2pm…Dr Dash does need to do her research at practice level and see barriers to this crazy option she is proposing and not to perpetuate lies..
This is ridiculous..we don’t have patients sometimes at lunch but are using the computers to file paths and letters…what a pisuing of dangerous lies by Dr Dash and the government. Dr dash needs to do research at the practice level and see the barriers to this..and how neighbourhood earning can’t be built online and half truths.
Public Health Cardie running GP. Jesus wept