The only medical practice with walk-in facilities in Merton is set to close in March.

The GP surgery at the Wilson Health Centre in Cranmer Road, Mitcham, is due to close as part of plans to redevelop the entire health centre, leaving Merton with no walk-in medical facilities anywhere in the borough.

Patients received a letter on December 7 from the Merton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), warning them that the practice would be closing on March 31 as Concordia Health Limited finish their contact with NHS England.

According to Merton CCG, there are 11 medical practices in Merton that fall within 1.5 miles of the Wilson Health Centre (also known as Wilson Hospital) for patients to register with before the closure. However, they confirmed that none of these have walk-in facilities for unregistered patients.

Once the medical practice at the Wilson Health Centre is closed, patients seeking walk-in facilities will need to travel to St Helier Hospital or St George’s Hospital.

Walk-in services are designed to treat a range of minor illnesses and injuries and are available to everyone without an appointment.

The Wilson Health Centre’s website says: ‘You can just walk in and wait to be seen. You don’t need to be registered, or even live in the area. We provide healthcare services to everyone’.

Trustee of the Mitcham Cricket Green Community and Heritage (MCGCH) group, Tony Burton, expressed concerns about the closure and said residents have been kept in the dark about the redevelopment of the health centre.

Mr Burton said: “We’ve been doing our best to help to shape the development process, but it’s been very difficult to get anything out of them.

“We’ve had no timetable, no details, nothing about what’s going to happen after that.

“The first piece of public news we had was a letter saying the GP surgery will close in March. The first thing we are getting is bad news.”

A spokeswoman for Merton CCG said: “Merton CCG and NHS England have been in discussion with local practices and have ascertained that there are more than enough local practices with sufficient capacity that are willing to register patients from the Wilson Health Centre.

“There are 11 practices within a mile and a half of the Wilson Health Centre, with the two nearest practices just over half a mile away. Information will be provided to patients in our letter in January about each of these practices, including the nearest bust stops and availability of parking."

The spokeswoman added that Merton CCG will be engaging with residents and patients across the borough to ask them for their views on care services in Merton in the early part of this year. This will include the plans for the new Wilson site.

She said: “Merton CCG is also reviewing the options for the walk-in centre to bring it into line with national NHS requirements. In particular, we are reviewing the way the CCG provides services in line with the new national specifications for urgent and emergency care to make sure residents have the best possible access to the care they need.

“Under these specifications, Merton will not be able to provide a walk-in centre as it is now.

“The CCG wants everyone, wherever they live in Merton, to be able to access good quality healthcare. That means care which is timely and responsive to individual needs for both routine and urgent advice, and is not limited to consultations in the surgery.”

A final letter will be sent to patients in early March reminding them of the need to register somewhere else, while reminders about the closure have been put online and on posters in the surgery.

A public meeting into the closure will be held on Tuesday, January 31, at 7pm in Wilson Health Centre.  

There are two drop-in events, on January 16 and January 31, for patients registered at the Wilson Health Centre GP practice who have any questions on how to register somewhere new.

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