Communications between health bosses in the lead up to the Bridge of Earn surgery closure have highlighted a period of “confusion and panic” between officials.
The Perthshire medical centre closed on August 30 after 3,500 registered patients were given less than a week’s formal notice that it would shut.
Emails obtained through a freedom of information request by Conservative MSP Liz Smith show NHS Tayside bosses had still not decided what they were going to do with the practice as late as August 18.
Less than a fortnight before its closure, health bosses were still arguing over whether the patient list should be dispersed to other practices or a GP and other staff should be recruited to lease the premises for an initial six to 12 months.
On August 6 Dr Jane Bruce, associate medical director of primary care, said she wanted a plan in place before she attended meetings as an NHS Tayside representative.
Dr Bruce said: “I am very happy to be open and transparent but feel an idiot saying the same things like a parrot.
“I would be okay going to a meeting to represent NHS Tayside and very very keen (Dr) Hamish (Dougall -associate medical director at HSCP) is there too.
“However I am not going at this late stage without a plan one way or another.”
Also on August 6, Gordon Paterson, chief officer of Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), told Professor Peter Stonebridge, interim medical director at NHS Tayside, he believed the replacement GP option would be preferred by locals.
He said:”The representations that we have received highlight the local community’s desire to retain their own GP practice.
“Also, the population of Bridge of Earn will almost double in the coming decade, with 1500 houses being built at Oudenarde.”
However in an August 13 email to the chief executive of NHS Tayside, Grant Archibald, Mr Paterson outlined the problems with that route.
He wrote: “Doing so would need to come with a clear public message that this would be challenging and ultimately might not be able to be sustained.”
On August 18 Mr Archibald told Dr Bruce: “According to the briefings I have received from you, the IJB (Integrated Joint Board) and others this is a complex issue which has been allowed to remain unresolved for years.”
The Bridge of Earn practice was closed down on August 30 with patients dispersed to other practices in a move criticised by health worker watchdogs.
Ms Smith said the correspondence showed “total confusion and panic” had set in.
She said: “The email trail among top health officials with NHS Tayside confirms the confusion and lack of transparency regarding the delivery of primary care services in Bridge of Earn.
“The emails also show that the uncertainty had been dragging on for months without anyone taking any responsibility for this issue. Meantime, patients from the surgery were left in the dark.”
A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said it had been “a contractually complex process” and the priority had been to make sure people could access the safest services.
“Everyone has given a commitment that the population of Bridge of Earn need to be fully involved in the planning of future health services and arrangements are being made to ensure the community can have a strong voice in those plans,” the spokesperson added.
“It is recognised by all parties involved that this has been a very complex, long-running issue and therefore NHS Tayside has already commissioned an in-depth review to ensure lessons can be learned.”
