Welcome to Withnell Health Centre
FUTURE OF WITHNELL HEALTH CENTRE
Chorley GP whose patients campaigned to keep her as their doctor faces fresh uncertainty (lep.co.uk)
You may recall around 12 months ago the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) abandoned their plans to award the permanent contract for Withnell Health Centre to another provider and gave Dr Robinson a further 18 month contract whilst they worked with the patients to decide on what the next procurement process would look like. However, yet again the ICB are now deciding if the Health Centre contract should go out to tender again, so other companies can bid for it. We believe, under the new Provider Selection Regime introduced 1st January 2024, that they can consider to directly award the contract if the existing provider is satisfying and likely to continue to satisfy the new contract. The results of the patient feedback through the engagement process the ICB arranged overwhelming supports this with a theme of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". The Withnell Health Centre Steering Group have asked us to share this statement.
UPDATE FROM THE WITHNELL STEERING GROUP
Members of the Steering Group and myself attended the ICB Primary Care Commissioning Committee meeting on Thursday 18th January, when an announcement on the procurement route to be used to determine how the long term contract for Withnell Health Centre would be decided upon, would be announced.
However, it was acknowledged that following numerous questions being asked by the public, coupled with the fact that the ICB would be following a new set of regulations that only came into force less than 2 weeks ago, it was agreed by the committee that they needed time to consider legal advice, some of which they had only received on the morning of the meeting, and were awaiting written advice from NHS England.
It was therefore decided that they (the committee) would defer making a decision until they had had chance to consider all the new legal advice.
The Steering Group feel this is a sensible course of action to take.
We are waiting confirmation from the ICB as to when the decision is going to be put back to the committee for a decision to be ratified.
We will continue to work with the ICB to achieve the best outcome possible for WHC and it’s patients, and keep you updated.
If you wish to raise any questions yourselves with the ICB, then this is the address to forward your queries/questions to. Lsc.icb@nhs.net
The ICB have also committed to providing regular public updates and the latest can be found here.
LSC Integrated Care Board :: Withnell Health Centre (icb.nhs.uk)
Ann Christopher Chair of the Withnell Steering Group
We would like to thank all of the patients of Withnell Health Centre for their continued support and kindness with regards to this situation and hopefully the ICB will do the right thing and listen to the patients.
FOR CHARITY
Thanks to everyone who came to our joint flu clinic/ cake and coffee morning on 7th October 2023 to help raise money for Breast Cancer Now.
We are delighted to announce that, with your donations, in total, we raised a massive £1731.70.
Also a huge thanks to the staff at Withnell Health Centre and some of the patients for all their hard work baking all those yummy treats!
IMPORTANT NOTICE - WE ARE RECRUITING FOR OUR PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP (PPG)
We are looking to increase our numbers in our patient participation group to meet up bi-monthly - please click on the "Have your Say" tab if you are interested and require more information
For more information on what a PPG is, click the link below.
Patient Participation Group
Prescribing of over the counter medicines is changing
Your GP, nurse or pharmacist will not generally give you a prescription for over the counter medicines for a range of minor health concerns.
Instead, over the the counter medicines are available to buy in a pharmacy or supermarket in your local community.
The team of health professionals at your local pharmacy can offer help and clinical advice to manage minor health concerns, and if your symptoms suggest it’s more serious they’ll ensure that you get the care you need.
You may still be prescribed an over the counter medicine if:
- You need treatment for a long-term condition, e.g. regular pain relief for chronic arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease
- You need treatment for more complex forms of minor illnesses, e.g. migraines that are very bad and where over the counter medicines do not work
- You need an over the counter medicine to treat a side effect of a prescription medicine or symptom of another illness, e.g. constipation when taking certain painkillers
A patient information leaflet explaining the changes is available to download here.