Where the GP partners at any particularly are unable to continue to provide the services laid out in the GMS contract then health boards will take over the running of the practice until new and appropriate GP partners can be found.
In Fife there are currently 53 GP practices, five of which are currently managed by NHS Fife after the previous GP partners were no longer able to provide their contracted local general medical services.
NHS Fife will also take over the management of Park Road Medical Practice in Rosyth from 01 April 2023. You can find out more about the transition here.
Changes to improve services for patients of Methilhaven Surgery
Methilhaven Surgery has been managed by NHS Fife and the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership since August 2022. NHS Fife and the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership recently took forward a number of short-term measures to stabilise the practice and improve access while longer-term plans were developed to improve the services available to patients.
Following constructive discussions with two local GP practices, an agreement has been reached to help reduce the pressure on Methilhaven Surgery and improve local medical services for the Practice’s patients.
In the coming months, around 3,000 of the 6,000 patients registered at Methilhaven Surgery will be advised that they will be re-registered to the nearby Airlie Medical Practice in Lower Methil and a further 1,000 to Muiredge Practice in Buckhaven. Both Practices will be supported with additional clinical staff to ensure they can maintain the high-quality care they currently provide as they increase their patient list.
Methilhaven Practice will remain open and will continue to operate with a considerably reduced patient list of around 2,000 people, ensuring better stability and improved access for those patients remaining.
The transfer of patients is being carried out in a phased basis over spring and early summer, with the decisions over which patients are asked to move based on postcode to ensure the easiest possible access to local medical services.
Patients who are being re-registered will have their registration moved automatically, so will not have to complete any administrative forms. Those being re-registered will also have the right to appeal the decision.
Potential changes at Kinghorn, The Links and Valleyfield Medical Practices
NHS Fife and the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership are currently responsible for managing Kinghorn Medical Practice, the Links Practice in Burntisland and Valleyfield Practice.
Work has been ongoing for some time to identify appropriate interested parties to take over the running of these practices. A tender will shortly begin which invites interested and qualified parties to provide a detailed outline of how they would intend to deliver general medical services from any of these practices.
The aim of the tender process is to attract new GP contractors for the practices with the clinical staffing resources to provide the good standard of service that patients expect and deserve. Once received, a thorough process of assessment and evaluation will be completed for each submission in the new year, with any successful tenders approved by the NHS Fife Board in Spring 2023.
NHS Fife is in the process of writing out to patients in each of the affected practices to inform them of these developments and remains committed to ensuring that patients are kept up to date with any developments throughout.