Founding GP Delighted by New Surgery in Cramlington

A new Cramlington GP practice, which opened its doors to patients last month, has welcomed a founding member to help celebrate its opening.

Brockwell GP surgery moved from Northumbrian Road, Cramlington, to the ground floor of the Northumbria Health and Care Academy, based in the grounds of the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital on Northumbria Way, at the beginning of June.

Valens Medical Partnership (of which Brockwell was part of) joined Northumbria Primary Care (NPC) in January this year. As a result of this, and as the surgery is moving from Brockwell, the practice has been renamed NPC Northumbria Way.

Dr Alan Dove, a founding GP of the original surgery, which opened in Cramlington 1980, retired from general practice in 2016 after caring for patients for 51 years.

Dr Dove was delighted to be invited to see NPC Northumbria Way: “The surgery I opened in 1980 was based in two portacabins which were joined together. I ran the practice alongside one district nurse, a health visitor, and our receptionist. By the end of the first month, we had 1000 patients.

“We needed 7000 patients to get approval to build our new permanent surgery, which we did in 1990. It was named after the Brockwell coal seam. Our team had grown by then, as had the number of patients we were caring for. By 2005 the practice had 15,000 patients and three other surgeries located in Seaton Delaval and Seaton Sluice and had joined the Brockwell practice.”

NPC Northumbria Way, which cares for 11,000 patients and has around 60 staff, is 2.2 miles away from the Brockwell surgery site. The move was approved by Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group in May 2022, after a six-week period of engagement.

Dr Aamir Munir, director of transformation at Northumbria Primary Care and a GP partner at NPC Northumbria Way, said: “I am so excited that we have moved into a space which is bright, welcoming and will significantly improve patient and staff experience. A huge amount of thought, planning and effort has gone into this, and we want to assure patients that they have been at the centre of all our decisions from the way we have designed clinical rooms to ensuring patients can have private conversations in the reception area. We have also considered parents and their children by having an interactive activity children’s area in the waiting room and a buggy parking area.

“One of the absolute priorities was ensuring that we have the space to provide care to patients that is tailored to and centred around their needs. A big part of achieving this is working with more partners, which we can do now as we have the space and are also co-located with some of Northumbria Healthcare’s community team. Another priority, which we

have had to consider and respond to, is the need for the provision of digital care. The health landscape is changing at a pace, and we need to ensure that we keep up. It has been lovely to welcome patients to their new NPC Northumbria Way surgery and our team is settling in well.”

A key concern that was highlighted by patients as part of the engagement process in relation to this practice move, was around transport. Patients that don’t have access to their own transport and that will struggle to get to the practice are able to arrange transport via a partnership set up with Age UK. Patients can book this service via the practice reception team.

NPC Northumbria Way is welcoming new patients, and anyone interested in joining the practice can register on-line https://www.npcwellwaybrockwelllintonville.co.uk/join-us/register-as-a-patient/. Hard copy registration forms can also be collected from the new surgery at Unit 2, Northumbria Health and Care Academy, Northumbria Way, Cramlington, NE23 6NZ.

Dr Dove who was born in Wolverhampton and qualified as a GP at Newcastle University continued: “I decided I was going to be a GP at the age of ten after my best friend died of polio.

“I think it is wonderful that the practice has moved into such a fantastic space, fit for modern day healthcare. The issue with Brockwell surgery, even when I was still there, was the lack of space and how this restricted some of the things we wanted to do for patients. I am delighted that move will enable more partnership working and more joined up care. Congratulations to the team for making this happen and I wish them the very best for the future.”

Managing director for Northumbria Primary Care, David Hedgcock, said: “Northumbria Primary Care has gone through a very exciting time over the last twelve months as a result of the pace and rate of its growth. Practices joining us demonstrates we are an organisation that people want to join, work for and collaborate with. It has taken a huge amount of work to get to where we are today in relation to opening NPC Northumbria Way and I would like to thank all colleagues that have made it happen. We are all very excited to welcome both existing and new patients to the practice.”

The Northumbria Health and Care Academy building is owned by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and they will operate the second and third floor of the building. The first floor is a nursing, midwifery and allied health professional education facility and the top floor is a private space with meeting rooms and conference facilities.

Andrew Cooper, development director for Assura, said: ““This has been a fantastic project to deliver and marks one of our biggest developments to date. A project on this scale takes a great deal of coordination and teamwork from all involved and the end result speaks for itself – a state-of-the-art facility which will enable the delivery of high quality and modern healthcare.”

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust owns the current Brockwell surgery building, and it is planned that their community team will use the space going forward.

Patients and the public can also access a new pharmacy which has opened next door to NCP Northumbria Way.