Two North Leeds GP surgeries to become one practice in bid to ensure "future viability"

The Westfield Medical Centre in Chapeltown Road will join with the Allerton Medical Centre on Montreal Avenue.

There are 6,000 patients registered at Allerton Medical Centre and about 4,300 at the Westfield Medical Centre, which sits on the first floor of The Reginald Centre.

The new practice will care for more than 10,000 patients.

Both of the current buildings will remain open and there is "hope" that from April 2020 patients will be able to chose to attend at either location.

A spokesperson said there will be no change to standard GP surgeries and that the intention is to "progressively work towards increasing the number of services available to our patients."

No staff will be made redundant.

Named GPs will remain the same.

Doctors at the practices say the move is to ensure the "future viability of the practices" as well as "protecting and enhancing patient care."

The spokesperson said: "Doctors say the decision has been taken after careful consideration to help ensure the future viability of the practices whilst protecting and enhancing patient care.

"A larger patient base and staff base will help them deal with some of the challenges they face, putting them in a better position to invest in staff, and their continued development, as well as facilities and equipment."

Abiye Hector-Goma, GP Partner at Allerton Medical Centre, added: "At Allerton Medical Centre, we take pride in the good old family practice, continuity of care and say 'small is (still) beautiful'.

"We are passionate about the wellbeing of our patients and staff, helping people to live longer in good health with a strong focus on working together.

"We have been working closely with Practices in Chapeltown for the last two years.

"General Practice is under so much pressure and our proposed merger will strengthen our work force and enable us to provide even higher quality healthcare to our patients while supporting initiatives to improve wellness in our local communities.”

Nick Nurden, Managing Partner at Westfield Medical Centre said: “We are passionate about this local community and have enjoyed providing their care over recent times.

"However working as such a small team no longer allows us to provide the best range of services and care for patients.

"Working more closely with other local practices will enable a better, more responsive and proactive range of care to be provided to Westfield patients.

"We are confident that merging with Allerton will allow those developments to occur whilst maintaining all the values that Westfield patients see as important.”

The practice is holding three drop in events to discuss the merger on the following dates:

Saturday, November 23 from 11am to 1pm on the first floor of the The Reginald Centre

Sunday, November 24 from 2pm to 3.30pm in the meeting room in St Matthew’s Church

Monday, November 25 from 6pm to 7pm on the the first floor of the The Reginald Centre

Anyone interested can also complete a survey online by visiting either practice’s website: www.allertonmedicalcentre.co.uk and www.westfieldmedicalcentre.co.uk or can pick up a paper copy of the survey by visiting their local GP practice.