Staff at the Withnell Health Centre in Chorley have said they would rather resign than see their GP practice handed over to SSP Health.

The private conglomerate, which operates 37 practices across the North west, was awarded the contract by the Lancs Integrated Care Board (ICB) after putting the practice out to tender following the departure of Dr Mahtab.

This decision was made despite patients lodging thousands of objections to the ICB and holding a second protest outside the ICB’s head office on February 1 demanding that Dr Ann Robinson is awarded the contract.

Now, staff at Withnell Health Centre have confirmed that they will not work for SSP Health and lay the blame with the ICB for “improperly managing the tender process” as they say patients were not consulted about the changes.

Lancashire Telegraph: Protest outside Chorley House on Wednesday, February 1Protest outside Chorley House on Wednesday, February 1 (Image: Louise France)

Jayne Breen, a receptionist who has worked at the practice for over 14 years, said: “Many of the staff, including me are from this community. We grew up together, we went to school together.

“How can I possibly stand next to a friend in the bakers, knowing that we are going to be delivering care to them and their families, in a way that I fundamentally disapprove of?

“I do not want to tell patients that they will have to discuss their health concerns with a call-centre operator, or that we no longer do home visits, or that they cannot see one of our doctors when it is convenient to them.”

Staff say they are afraid that if the GP doesn’t generate enough profit, the firm will drive out or modify services. Dr Robinson said: “Why fix something that isn’t broken? We are a small pocked of the NHS that’s working really well.

“We attend to the health care needs of 5,500 patients and 2,000 of them have written to us, and every one is a rejection of the bid by SSP Health to run our community practice.

“There are serious questions that the ICB must address, because, as things stand, the organisation’s credibility is being called into question.

“…the ICB has a legal duty to perform a comprehensive consultation programme with local residents, before any binding decision is made. No such public consultation has taken place.”

A letter from Chorley and South Ribble CCG which was sent out to the patients in February 2022, said there was a “slight change” to the running of WHC but there should be “very little or no impact” and patients “shouldn’t be concerned about the future of the practice”.

In response to the claim that patients were not consulted, Kevin Lavery chief executive of Lancs ICB said: “Further engagement could have made patients and staff more aware of the procurement process and that it could result in a different organisation taking over the running of the GP practice and due to this, we’d like to apologise.

“We are currently reviewing all the information from the procurement process and at this point have not signed a contract with a new provider. We hope to have this matter resolved within two to three weeks.

“Going forward we’re committed to going above and beyond with our public engagement and would like to reassure our local population that securing high-quality services remains a priority for the ICB.”

Dr Robinson continued: “This decision by the ICB may well destroy the practice and will undo all the incredibly hard work my team has put into making Withnell Health Centre an outstandingly good practice, by any measure. 

“They are breaking a model of best practice and replacing it with a system that compromises care in favour of profit.

“If staff leave, it is hard to see how the practice can continue”.

Andy Scaife, CEO, SSP Health said: “As we have mentioned on several occasions, we would very much welcome the opportunity to talk with Dr Robinson (whom we have reached out to) and the members of the team to enable us to discuss their worries and concerns so that we can provide reassurance and correct the misunderstandings that they clearly have.

"We completely understand that Withnell Health Centre is a much loved and essential part of the community, something we intend to ensure carries on for many years to come.”