Three Ripon doctors’ surgeries to join forces and deliver ‘a stronger, unified voice’ for more than 24,000 patients

North House Surgery, Park Street Surgery and Ripon Spa Surgery are planning to merge on July 1, 2024.

A name for the new practice has not yet been chosen. However, the decision will bring 19 doctors together with 85 clinical and administrative staff to provide the best possible care for more than 24,000 patients.

All three practice buildings will remain open with no reduction to opening hours.

Dr Alistair Ingram, of Park Street Surgery, said: “All three surgeries have a long history of working together, so this merger is a natural next step for us.

"The merger will enable us to create a larger team of specialist staff to care for patients, providing all patients registered in Ripon with the same high standard of care.

“This proposal is safeguarding the future of healthcare in Ripon by being better able to recruit and retain talented staff and medical trainees.

“A stronger, unified patient voice would also amplify opportunities for patients to help shape patient care and future plans.

“We have begun the conversation with patients across all three practices on the merits of the proposed merger.”

To find out more about how to provide feedback, patients can visit their surgery’s website or pick up an information sheet when next in the surgery.

Dr Richard Fletcher, of Park Street Surgery, said: "The new practice hopes to take advantage of economies of scale so that it can reduce costs and better meet current and future financial challenges.

“We’ve been thinking about merging for several years, and we’re confident that this is the best option to guarantee that we can maintain and continue to develop services for all our patients, and keep excellent patient care and staff welfare at the heart of everything we do.”

Each surgery will be holding an open morning for their patients on Saturday, February 3, from 10.30am until 12pm.

Dr Peter Johnson, of North House Surgery, said: “Our patients’ views have always been very important to us.

“There are no plans for any redundancies and there will now be a series of meetings with staff and managers to discuss the plans in more detail.”

Sam Miles, practice manager at Ripon Spa Surgery, said the decision will allow all staff to work closer with GPs and deliver the “highest standard of care for patients”.

Dr Penny McEvoy, from Ripon Spa Surgery, said: “I think this merger can deliver not only better care for patients by creating a stronger, more resilient team of clinicians but also deliver greater benefits and job satisfaction for all our staff.

"Opportunities for professional development and career progression can be a real challenge to provide when you're a small practice but these are really important if we want to keep the high calibre staff we already have, and also attract new staff to come and work with us.

"Being part of a larger practice will mean we’ll be able to do this.”

Patients have until Friday, March 15, 2024 to share their views about the plan.