WORRIED patients of Drybrook Surgery breathed a sigh of relief last week as NHS Gloucestershire announced it had reached an agreement with a ‘caretaker’ provider. 

In a letter sent out on Friday (April 28), Director of Primary Care and Place at NHS Gloucestershire Helen Goodey said she was “delighted” to announce that a provider had been secured until December 2023, with the procurement of a longer-term solution set to begin “as a matter of urgency”. 

Local GP Dr Anna Raymond, of Blakeney Surgery, and practice nurses Katie Dyer (nee Cook) and Nichola Winstanley will take on services at Drybrook. 

The trio are familiar with Drybrook Surgery and have existing relationships with patients and staff working there, as they already provide much of the clinical cover at the surgery. 

Their contract will begin on June 1. 

Ms Goodey said: “We believe that this is a great outcome and opportunity as this clinical team will be able to continue to offer high quality care to patients.” 

She said new patients should not experience changes in the way they receive care, and that “a full range” of services will continue to be provided from the current surgery building. 

She added: “This is an exciting development, and whilst there is still work to be done to agree the Caretaker Contract and for the longer-term solution; I am really pleased that that the future of Drybrook Surgery is more secure.” 

But she did say that, as part of the process, anyone who usually uses the dispensary at Drybrook will no longer be able to collect their medication from the surgery. 

She explained: “This change is due to the NHS pharmacy regulations; so is outside NHS Gloucestershire’s powers. It is a legal requirement due to the nature of the contractual changes.” 

As a result, patients who use the dispensary will have to choose a pharmacy from which to attain their prescriptions. 

The NHS will write to those affected to assist them in doing so. 

Ms Goodey continued: “We are confident that local pharmacies will be able to deliver high quality services to patients and would like to reassure anyone affected by this change that they should not be concerned about their medication supplies.” 

She said the NHS will continue to keep patients up to date as the process develops via both the surgery website and waiting room.

A spokesperson for Drybrook Parish Council said: “We sincerely hope that the procurement process for the much longer term solution beyond December 2023 proves successful, and we thank the work of Helen Goody and the NHS Gloucestershire team.” 

The decision follows the announcement at the end of March that options for the future of the surgery, including its closure, were being considered.

It came after Mitcheldean Surgery, which had taken over services at Drybrook in December following the retirement of the last remaining GP partner there, opted not to renew their short-term contract. 

Patients were sent a survey on how a closure would affect them which they had just 12 days to complete, due to Mitcheldean’s contract ending less than eight weeks away on June 1. 

Despite the short time period, the survey garnered the highest rate of response NHS Gloucestershire had ever had, with 800 respondents from the 4,000 people registered there.

An extraordinary meeting of Drybrook Parish Council was held on Wednesday, April 12, at which councillors and residents questioned Ms Goodey about why more hadn’t been done previously to secure services for the thousands of patients registered at Drybrook. 

Attendees heard residents were “frightened” by the prospect of losing the surgery and having to travel elsewhere for services in an area where public transport is so poor.

The spokesperson for the council added: “Drybrook Parish Council also wish to extend their gratitude to Dr Anna Raymond and the Practice Nurses Katie Dyer and Nicola Winstanley for supporting and delivering our local Surgery services which have been highly valued by Drybrook patients in meeting their needs over many years.”