The Bradley Stoke Journal

A new organisation which will allow members of the public to have a say on how health and social care services are run in South Gloucestershire has its inaugural meeting this Thursday (21st May).

Local Involvement Networks (LINks) aim to give citizens a stronger voice in how their health and social care services are delivered. Run by local individuals and groups and independently supported – the role of LINks is to find out what people want, monitor local services and to use their powers to hold them to account.

Everyone who lives in or receives health and social care services in South Gloucestershire is invited to attend this free event at the BAWA centre in Filton. There will be two duplicated session running; one from 2pm until 4pm and another in the evening from 6:30pm until 8:30pm.

This is South Gloucestershire’s chance to have a real say in their health and social care services, to get involved in a network and forum where their views can be heard by the people who are responsible for paying for (commissioning) and providing health and social care services in South Gloucestershire.

This includes all health services from GP services, through to community health services such as physiotherapy, to all the services that exist in your local hospitals. The social care services that the LINk can influence extend through all the adult social care services provided locally; including care homes, day care, respite and holiday care and the care provided in people’s homes.

The LINk can have a real influence on health and social care services. It works closely with your local NHS and your local authority; it can bring issues to the attention of the local overview and scrutiny committees and also to bodies such as the Healthcare Commission. It also has the power to occasionally inspect health and social care services where it has negotiated to do so with the service provider.

More Information:

• Health and Social Care Local Involvement Networks (Directgov)
• South Gloucestershire LINk
• Healthcare in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Bradley Stoke’s first-ever dental surgery opened for business today on the first floor of the mall building at the town’s Willow Brook Centre.

The opening marks the end of a long campaign to secure NHS dental provision in Bradley Stoke and follows years of frustration for residents, during which they have had to travel to practices in neighbouring towns.

The history of health care provision in Bradley Stoke is littered with false starts and setbacks. The Town Council proudly announced in September 2005 that a new health centre, incorporating a dental practice, was to be built on a site at Savages Wood Road (opposite the new Tesco filling station). Those plans were later shelved by NHS South Gloucestershire, which decided it would rather spend the money on extending existing GP practices that serve the town (and we’re still waiting for those, four years on!).

Local Lib Dems launched a campaign for a dental surgery in June 2007, claiming that no dentist within 3km of the town was currently accepting NHS patients. They were supported by local MP Steve Webb who said it was extraordinary that a community the size of Bradley Stoke (with more than 20,000 residents) did not have its own dental practice.

The first signs of progress came in October 2007 when South Gloucestershire Council approved Tesco’s plans for the development of a new town centre. The planning agreement included a requirement on Tesco to “actively market one of the upper floor units of the mall … for use as a dental surgery for a minimum period of six months”.

Further confirmation that things were happening came in April 2008 when NHS South Gloucesterhire started the tendering process for “the new Bradley Stoke dental practice”, quoting a target opening date of December 2008.

That timescale proved slightly optimistic as the chosen service provider, Phoenix Dental Limited, was not appointed until January 2009.

Phoenix initially said they would be opening the practice in April 2009, but later confirmed the date had slipped to 18th May 2009.

The practice, which employs two dentists an a hygienist, is open from 8:30am to 6pm Monday – Friday, with later opening on Wednesdays until 7:30pm. Some appointments may also be available on Saturday mornings.

Access to the surgery is via a door to the left of the main car park entrance to the mall, from where stairs and a lift lead to the first floor.

The company’s literature says it is one of the few remaining practices to provide dental care for both adults and children under the NHS.

Appointments may be made by phoning 01179 114441 or via the Bradley Stoke Dental Surgery website.

Patient registrations for Bradley Stoke’s soon to open NHS dental practice have begun with the launch of a new website.

Phoenix Dental Ltd, which already operates practices in Almondsbury, Kingswood and Yate, has announced that Bradley Stoke’s first-ever NHS dentist will open on Monday 18th May.

Patients can now book check-up appointments online at: http://www.phoenixdental.co.uk/bradley_s/

Bookings are also being taken by telephone on 0117 9114441.

The two chair dental surgery will be based in ‘mall office unit #1′ (shown red in the plan below) on the first floor of the Willow Brook Centre.

A spokesperson for Phoenix Dental told The Journal that leaflets advertising the new practice will be distributed in the Willow Brook Centre this coming weekend (18th/19th April).

Related Links: NHS Dentists in Bradley Stoke and the Surrounding Area

The Stokes Medical Centre in Braydon Avenue, Little Stoke, has submitted a second application for its planned extension after the initial plans were rejected by South Gloucestershire Council.

The earlier application, made in January, was withdrawn after planning officials indicated that they were minded to refuse it “on design grounds and non contribution to transport measures”.

A new application was submitted on 26th March and consultation on the revised plans will run until 16th April, with a decision expected by 23rd June.

The number of flats included in the proposed new wing has been reduced from four to two, while the proposed number of cycle parking spaces at the site has been increased from 12 to 26.

A source at the practice told The Journal that it is hoped to have the new wing ready by the end of 2010, after which the expansion and refurbishment of the existing building will commence.

The catchment area of The Stokes Medical Centre includes Little Stoke, Patchway and parts of Bradley Stoke (south-west of Bradley Stoke Way) and Stoke Gifford.

The centre is one of three GP practices that NHS South Gloucestershire has said will be expanded to serve the healthcare needs of Bradley Stoke residents, after plans to create a new health centre near the new town centre in Savages Wood Road were dropped.

The other practices being expanded are Bradley Stoke Surgery (Brook Way) and Stoke Gifford Medical Centre (Ratcliffe Drive).

Work began at Brook Way Surgery a few weeks ago when portable buildings were cleared from the rear of the site, but there has been no further activity since then.

A temporary expansion of Stoke Gifford Medical Centre, consisting of three ‘portacabins’, was approved by planners in February.

Officials at South Gloucestershire Council have approved plans for a temporary expansion of Stoke Gifford Medical Centre, which serves the southern part of Bradley Stoke.

The expansion, formed of three ‘portacabins’ to be sited east of the present building in Ratcliffe Drive, is seen as a precursor to a major scheme of expansion at the premises, which is currently on hold due to funding difficulties.

Information supplied with the planning application states that:

“A new business case [for a substantial expansion] was approved by the PCT [NHS] in May 2008. However part of the capital funding for the extension/refurbishment is dependant upon the development of new housing at Harry Stoke, and it appears that this has been delayed for the foreseeable future.”

Installation of temporary accommodation was therefore proposed to “help relieve the current shortfall in accommodation whilst the delays to the funding of the extension/refurbishment are resolved.”

Planners have now given the green light for the portacabins for a period of five years, although the practice hopes that they will be needed for no more than three years.

A spokesperson for the practice gave the following statement to The Journal:

We are delighted that our planning application to provide additional accommodation by means of temporary buildings has been approved by South Gloucestershire Council. Planning permission has been granted for a period of up to 5 years, though we hope that the temporary buildings will not be required for anything near that length of time.

South Gloucester PCT approved our business case for a £1.7million permanent extension and refurbishment of our existing premises in the first half of 2008. The provision of temporary accommodation for a limited period of time was an essential element of the proposal. We are now working with our architects, G2 Architects, to work out the detail of the permanent scheme and in particular to identify a financial framework that will allow us to proceed to full implementation. The practice is responsible for raising the capital for the project, though the PCT has committed to a rental value to help support the required borrowing.

Stoke Gifford Medical Centre is fully committed to serving the populations of Stoke Gifford, Bradley Stoke, Harry Stoke and Filton (from our Conygre Road facility) and providing comprehensive primary care facilities from modern, well equipped premises.

The centre is one of three GP practices that NHS South Gloucestershire has said will be expanded to meet healthcare demand in Bradley Stoke, after plans to build a new health centre near the new town centre in Savages Wood Road were dropped.

Related Link: GP practices serving Bradley Stoke (The Journal)