The Blandford Group Practice has abandoned its plans for the purchase of Shottsford House in Heddington Drive, Blandford, and is now planning to stay in the existing premises in Whitecliff Mill Street.

In initial preparation for the move, the practice applied to relocate their dispensary to the former Priory Hospital premises, but practice manager Carol Tilley has confirmed that the application has now been withdrawn.

She said NHS England were unable to provide the practice partners with the reassurance that they would financially underwrite risks from the practice purchasing the new site.

She said: “The practice is owned by 12 individuals who have unlimited liability for any debt and costs relating to the GP buildings. The new premises needed to be large enough to accommodate not only the GP employed teams, but also other services that they now have to collaborate with to meet the latest NHSE service integration strategy.”

“NHSE required the GP partners to buy the new larger building and then to have work done to the building to make it fit for purpose, so that this NHSE strategy could be delivered. It was willing to temporarily fund the alterations (with a loan to the partners that we then have to pay back over an agreed period) but not to provide any guarantee that they would provide similar financial support for any of the bridging costs, or parallel running costs that would be needed to facilitate such a large project and site move.”

“Unlike a house move a GP practice would struggle to exit one building on a Friday and open up in a new site on a Monday, and also dovetail the purchase of the new site with the sales of the two properties being exited; it is far more complicated.”

“The partners could not personally be expected to take the sole burden of this unlimited financial risk, particularly to deliver another organisation’s strategy, and therefore with regret took the difficult decision to withdraw. It is very disappointing, but we remain committed to looking an alternative solution to improving the premises so that we can offer a more collaborative local health service.”

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