A showcase GP surgery which is at the vanguard of primary care in Sheffield has been officially opened by city MP Richard Caborn.
Patients and staff at Dovercourt Surgery are benefitting from spacious, new purpose-designed premises on Skye Edge Avenue.
The practice has gained five extra consulting rooms alongside additional space to accommodate further growth and service developments - which may include a gym to deliver an exercise by prescription programme and an allotment.
Patients are benefiting from a much larger waiting area, extra parking spaces, improved disabled access and extended opening hours.
The £1.2million development replaces the over-crowded surgery premises on City Road and has taken more than five years to achieve.
Dr Maria Read, lead partner at Dovercourt said: “The last few years have been extremely hard for all of us as we came to outgrow the building on City Road. A car parking space became a luxury, as did a desk, a computer and a room!
“The patients were truly patient in putting up with woefully inadequate parking, the crowded waiting room and blood tests in a cupboard. We’re delighted with this new and splendid surgery and that we are able to offer patients better access to a greater range of services.”
Dovercourt forms part of the Central Sheffield GP Consortium, a group of 27 practices across the city who are working together to provide better access to better healthcare services for people in the inner city.
Central Sheffield MP Richard Caborn was full of praise for what the Dovercourt practice has achieved. He said: “Dovercourt is symbolic of what the NHS is really about. It’s about people in these inner city areas of Sheffield and how local health services need strong links with patients and the communities in which they live.
“Health is not just about health care services; it’s about housing and the environment in which people live. It is exciting that the Dovercourt practice is looking at the possibility of an allotment on site which could be used by children from the local school to grow food and find out about healthy eating.
“We have a major problem with childhood obesity and we need to move the focus to prevention. Dovercourt is trying to do this. This is a gem of a practice, not just the building but the people in it.”
The official opening was attended by people from the local community, patient representatives, GPs, health care professionals and representatives from the designers and developers of the showcase surgery.
Photo caption: From left to right: Paul Wike, practice manager of Dovercourt Surgery with lead partner Dr Maria Read and Central Sheffield MP Richard Caborn who officially opened the new practice premises
Notes to editors:
- Commissioning is the process of identifying the health needs of the population and making prioritised decisions to secure care to meet those needs within the available resources
- The Central Sheffield GP Consortium is a group of doctors’ surgeries working together to make healthcare in the city better.
- Founded in August 2006, the group is made up of 27 practices, who act as one to identify ways to improve access to, and standards of, healthcare services for patients.
- The Consortium has the majority of inner city GP practices within Sheffield with high levels of deprivation, chronic disease and social need and works to develop innovative solutions to improve the quality and levels of care within its local community.
- The Consortium is committed to reducing health inequalities and actively seeks the views of clinicians, nurses and patients in redesigning local health services.
Released on behalf of Central Sheffield GP Consortium by HR Media Ltd. For more details, please contact Kim d’Arcy at HR Media on 0114 221 0345 or email kim@hrmedia.org.uk.