The Bradley Stoke Journal

Bradley Stoke Surgery has announced that it has introduced an online appointment booking system “following feedback from its Friends group”.

The news follows criticism at the 2009 Annual Town Meeting, where one resident likened the surgery’s appointment system to something that might be found in a Third World country.

Patients leaving feedback on an official NHS website have complained of continuously engaged telephone lines when trying to book same-day appointments.  An anonymous comment left earlier this month on the feedback page for Bradley Stoke Surgery complained:

“The appointment system is hopeless as you struggle to get through on the phone only to be told there are no slots left. If you are prepared to queue up at 8am outside the Surgery without shelter you may get an appointment before lunch.”

Two other recent commenters described the appointment system as “appalling”.

News of the new online system came in the Spring issue of the Friends of Bradley Stoke Surgery newsletter circulated at the 2010 Annual Town Meeting.

According to the newsletter:

“Patients can now register to have the facility to book their appointments online at their convenience. Patients need to register in order to use the Book On Line system and this can be done in person at reception.”

When The Journal checked the online system at 7am this morning (Monday 24th), two morning and one afternoon appointments were available, all with the same doctor.

Read more: new telephone system to be installed »

Public left in the dark as work begins at Brook Way site

Work has finally begun on the long-awaited expansion of Bradley Stoke Surgery but patients and local residents continue to be kept in the dark about developments at the Brook Way site.

Construction firm ISG Pearce has installed a number of portacabins in the surgery’s car park and a large part of the site plus some public land on Brook Way has been boarded off. This has resulted in the number of spaces on the surgery side of the Brook Way car park being reduced from 20 to 9.

The notoriously secretive Bradley Stoke Surgery gave no warning that the work was due to start and one week later there are still no details about the redevelopment on the practice’s website. The Journal has also been unable to find any related information on the websites of Bradley Stoke Town Council, South Gloucestershire Council or NHS South Gloucestershire.

The Journal understands that the surgery was asked almost a year ago to give a presentation on its redevopment plans to the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Community Group. As yet, no such presentation has taken place, with the surgery reportedly saying they “didn’t feel able to come yet” in July 2009.

The scheme hit the local headlines in December 2009 when NHS South Gloucestershire (NHSSG) was forced to admit that redevelopment of the surgery had been delayed due to the credit crunch. That revelation came after local resident Sachin Singhal had questioned why over 200 pregnant women from Bradley Stoke were having to travel to Filton or Patchway for treatment and advice.

Midwife services at the surgery were withdrawn in February 2009 when portacabins were removed from the rear of the premises but the anticipated redevelopment of the site then failed to materialise. NHSSG later admitted that: “with hindsight, the service was moved earlier than needed”.

The Journal has heard from an unofficial source that the redevelopment of the Brook Way surgery is likely to take nine months.

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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)

A medical practice serving a large part of Bradley Stoke has submitted plans for a major expansion.

The Stokes Medical Centre in Braydon Avenue, Little Stoke, has made a planning application to South Gloucestershire Council that would see the surgery increase its floorspace by 125%.

Also featured in the plans are an opticians’ unit, a dental unit and a “diagnostic centre”.

The expansion will be achieved through extension of the existing surgery and pharmacy building plus the construction of a new two storey block sited at right angles to the existing building.

Residential accommodation is also included in the plans, with four self-contained flats on the first floor of the new block.

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.

Bradley Stoke Surgery in Brook Way, Bradley Stoke, had two sets of applications for expansion approved last year, after the government’s Planning Inspectorate overruled South Gloucestershire Council’s view that the proposed plans represented “over-development” of the site.

Dr Simon Bradley of The Stokes Medical Centre said:

“Just 4 minutes drive or a kilometre walk from Bradley Stoke Town Centre, our plans are a much needed opportunity for local families to have access to the purpose built medical and diagnostic centre that was previously intended for the town centre but which was never built.”

More Information:

• Press Release on Expansion Plans at The Stokes Medical Centre