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Merger Update: Our application to merge JHP and GMMC has been approved

We’re happy to say that our application to merge Jesmond Health Partnership and Gosforth Memorial has been approved.

We received official confirmation this week that the merger will take affect from 2nd April 2024.

The contract to provide primary care services from the four existing sites (Gosforth Memorial on Church Road, 17 and 200 Osborne Road and 5 Osborne Avenue in Jesmond) will be run by a new partnership of Dr Ben Davies, Dr Sarah Nicholson, Dr Dan Parkin, and Dr Fiona Smith.

Here’s what happens next.

Thank you, and business as usual

Firstly, we would like to say a big thank you to the patients at both practices.

Hundreds of you shared your thoughts with us, asked questions, and talked about your experiences.

We know that proposed mergers can create uncertainty, so hearing your thoughts helped us understand your needs and priorities. We tried to address as many concerns as possible in our FAQs and respond as best we could to your questions.

Secondly, we want to reiterate that no opening hours or services will change at any of the four sites.

It is our intention to operate two ‘hubs’ – one in Gosforth at Gosforth Memorial on Church Road, and another hub in Jesmond, which will include the three sites on Osborne Road and Osborne Avenue.

To all intents and purposes, the hubs will run independently of each other. Patients will have their preferred hub for their routine care, based on which practice they were originally registered with.

As we said in our original and updated FAQs, no one will be asked to travel to a different location for regular appointments.

You may, when appropriate, be offered an appointment at the other hub if there is an earlier time slot or an available specialist. But patients will be able to choose whether to take this up or wait to be seen in their usual place.

Next Steps

Once the contracts have been merged, we can apply to combine our clinical systems. While this happens, we will run a dual system so all staff at all sites will be able to access all patients’ records.

This shouldn’t have any impact on patients, short of it taking a little longer for staff to navigate between systems.

Similarly, when the systems are combined, it should be seamless for patients. Both practices currently use the same clinical system, so your access to your health information either through Systmonline or the NHS App will be uninterrupted.

In our original announcement and FAQS, we also mentioned that NHS England requires all practices to have a ‘modern way of working’ moving into 2025.

JHP’s ‘askmyGP’ system is an example of this: it provides quick, digital access to healthcare and fast resolutions for patients, and frees up clinical capacity to see patients face to face when needed.

With the merger now approved, we are actively looking at how we offer a uniform service to patients across both hubs that prioritises getting you the help you need as quickly and appropriately as possible.

We hope to update patients on this soon.

In the meantime, please continue to access health care at your existing practice in the same way as you have done previously.

Right to choose

We hope all patients will remain with us as part of our new, combined practice, but of course, you have the right to choose where to receive primary care. If you do wish to register with a different GP surgery, you can find the closest practices to you by entering your postcode on the Find a GP service on the NHS website.