By Marjory Inglis, health reporter

CONFIDENCE IN the future of Invergowrie Medical Practice was confirmed yesterday, after the practice list doubled in three years.

NHS Tayside has agreed to continue the current arrangement at the practice on a permanent basis.

The suburban practice was in jeopardy three years ago after a local practice pulled out of providing medical services there. At the time Invergowrie was operated by Muirhead Medical Practice, but the GP partners considered the surgery at Invergowrie unsuitable for modern healthcare.

There was an outcry in the village, where many described the surgery as the heart of the local community and vociferously expressed their desire to retain it. There was a belief, too, that planned new housing developments in the western gateway to Dundee would boost the practice size and demand for local services in future.

There were fewer than 650 patients on the practice list when Muirhead pulled out, insufficient to attract a GP to run services as an independent contractor, funded in the way most GP practices are funded.

NHS Tayside agreed to step in and fund and maintain the practice for a three-year period, with agreement to review that at the end of the temporary contract. They set in place an arrangement whereby a doctor attached to Ancrum Medical Practice would deliver services at the surgery in Invergowrie.

Dr Ronnie Ip’s tenure has proved popular and the list size now stands at 1180 patients, double what it was when he took over.

Yesterday Susan Ross, NHS Tayside’s general manager for primary care services, told members of Dundee Community Health Partnership meeting in King’s Cross Hospital, Dundee, that the arrangement was being made permanent.

She recalled the history of the Invergowrie practice and said that the main thinking behind the Tayside health authority’s short-term contract was to establish “if there was a long term viability for Invergowrie Medical Practice”.

It was estimated that viability would be reached when the practice list reached 1200, and the current patient list is just 20 short of that figure.

Mrs Ross said that the list size had been doubled thanks to “a great deal of hard work and effort by the practice that was awarded the contract for Invergowrie”.

Last night local councillor Peter Mulherron, who campaigned for retention of the practice at Invergowrie, welcomed the decision to make the contract permanent, saying the surgery was safe.

“I would like to express, on behalf of my constituents and the patients of the Invergowrie doctor’s surgery, our gratitude and thanks to Tayside Health Board Primary Care Services for their decision to give our local doctor’s surgery here in Invergowrie a permanent contract to continue to service our village and surrounding area,” said Mr Mulheron.

“In headline terms we can all celebrate this superb decision—our local surgery is safe.

“It would be remiss of me not to applaud the caring, considerate, professional manner in which Dr Andrew Russell, Mr David Lynch and Mrs Susan Ross of the Primary Care Services handled this sad and unfortunate situation which threatened the possible closure of our local surgery here in Invergowrie.

“They worked with the community, for the community,” said Mr Mulheron. “I wish to express thanks to all concerned.”