Balderton Primary Care Centre operator Operose Health reassures patients after concerns over its capability

The operator of a doctors’ surgery in Balderton has reassured patients the practice is providing the best NHS care after concerns were raised over its capability.

Several patients told the Advertiser the service at Balderton Primary Care Centre, Lowfield Lane, had deteriorated since Operose Health took over the surgery last year.

“Ever since this takeover, though taking covid into account, there have been times with no doctors and on occasions no nurses — they all seem to be locums,” said one patient.

“It is almost impossible to make a phone call. If doing so, you are in a queue of between eight to 12. When you do get to one, music starts and then five minutes later it says ‘we are unable to take your call at the moment’.

“I now know of a good number of people with the same reactions.

“There is something wrong when a surgery has a poster on the door saying ‘vacancies for doctors, nurses and reception staff’ — I can understand the latter one.

“My wife needed to see a doctor and actually visited in person. No doctors in residence.”

Another patient said he had been on the phone to the practice for more than an hour, but then it cut him off.

Another said it was the start of privatisation of the NHS and soon people would have to pay to see a GP like they would a dentist.

A spokesman for Operose Health said it had recently hired more staff. They said: “All our staff working at the Balderton surgery are dedicated to supporting our local communities by providing the best possible NHS care.

“Our doctors and nurses are on site every day, and appointments are prioritised by urgency. We also offer alternatives and always try to provide help and advice to patients as soon as possible.

“Since taking over management, we have taken a number of significant steps to improve the service for our patients. We have been recruiting locally and a new practice manager and two new receptionists joined the team last week.

“The practice is also actively recruiting more GPs and we recently employed a regional medical director who now offers regular GP sessions at the Balderton surgery.

“To improve patient experience with relation to speaking with the team, the telephone system that we inherited has been updated, and we are in the process of replacing this permanently with a more modern system within the coming weeks.”

Operose Health works with NHS England and Clinical Commissioning Groups throughout England to provide primary care services.