'They don't even have the bottle to come and face ordinary people' — fury at NHS Tayside's Ardler GP surgery meeting no-show

The anger and frustration of the Ardler community over the closure of their GP surgery has surfaced at a public meeting.

The Ardler Surgery on Turnberry Avenue.

Around 50 residents heard there could be a family doctor in Ardler again within a few weeks — but only as a satellite service from a larger practice in another part of the city.

The news was greeted with disgust at the meeting in the Ardler Complex in Turnberry Avenue on Tuesday evening.

Residents were incensed that no one from NHS Tayside had accepted an invitation to the meeting.

"If the health board won't come to us, we should go to them and tell them it's not on," said one man. "It's ridiculous that they don't even have the bottle to come and face ordinary people."

The health authority sent a statement from associate medical director for primary care Dr Michelle Watts. It said that most of the 1700 patients on the list at the Ardler surgery when it closed last month have re-registered elsewhere.

The health board is now in talks with a single practice — as yet unnamed — to provide a daily GP surgery with practice nurse provision in Ardler, the statement continued.

"This GP will be attached to the bigger practice, so things like continuity of care, training, education, holidays etc will be covered."

The service will initially operate from the Ardler clinic.

"We know this is not a suitable building to develop in the long term and we want to sit with folk in Ardler and work out exactly what services, and where, for the future.

"We will do this together with our local authority colleagues and are keen to use the example of the local care centre model which is being developed in Whitfield. We know there are a number of vacant premises in the area."

Dr Watts' statement added: "Timeframe-wise, I hope to have GP input up and running within the next few weeks, the consultation with the public and partners around the longer term options will of course take a wee bit longer, but again, would be keen to see this concluded by Christmas.

"For clarity, this does not mean that we will be setting up a completely new surgery in Ardler and would still encourage any patients not yet re-registered to do so.

"I would also like to reiterate that myself and NHS Tayside board are fully committed to providing high-quality primary care services to the people of Ardler."

But the health board assurance did little to placate the meeting, which agreed to form a campaign focus group chaired by Fred Potter.

Mr Potter said that the statement "falls way short of out hopes and aspirations".

He said: "We just want the same level of services that we had in Ardler before the surgery closed."

Several residents branded the statement "a joke".

Many also expressed anger at what they saw as the unfair treatment of former GP Dr Charles Miller, who attended the meeting. Some even suggested he had been the victim of "a vendetta".

NHS Tayside decided to end its contract with Dr Miller, which led to the closure of the surgery.

Mr Potter told the meeting that Dr Miller has officially retired and understood the health board has refused to lease or buy the surgery from him.

Mr Potter said: "The surgery was closed without any patient consultation and a blatant disregard for your views, my views and everybody else's views."

The meeting was also attended by councillors Ian Borthwick and Kevin Keenan, who both expressed their support for improved medical services in the area.

Click for more on these topics:

People: Ian Borthwick, Fred Potter, Michelle Watts, Charles Miller, Kevin Keenan | Organisations: NHS Tayside board | Places: Ardler, Dundee | Concepts: Doctor, GP, Surgery, Health board, Practice, Public meeting

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