The Future of Congresbury Surgery: What’s Next?

Serving as a "hot site" during the COVID-19 pandemic, Congresbury Surgery provided essential services to the community, allowing the practice to safely see patients suspected of having COVID-19. However, due to ongoing challenges and the limitations of the site, it has since been temporarily closed and is no longer viable or suitable for long-term clinical use.

The surgery has been temporarily closed since 2021 for routine patient appointment.

As a small practice with limited patient use at the time, information about the closure was shared intermittently through the available channels. While every effort was made to inform patients, we acknowledge that this may have led to some patients feeling unaware or unprepared, and we are committed to improving communication for any future changes.

Unfortunately, due to the small size and the investment needed to make it fit for purpose it is unlikely the practice will be reopen.

Over the last five-years  investment in Congresbury Surgery has been  limited, with expectations of a new facility (the Smallway development) . However, with  an ICB survey indicating  that £330,000 would be necessary to bring the current facility up to suitable clinical standard, a sum for which there is no available funding, it is not a financially viable due to the small size and limited options to expand.

Although outline planning permission for a new build still exists at the Smallway site, there is no opportunity or current possibility to fund this development via MVMG or through the ICB.

Whilst we don’t have a current valuation we would anticipate that the site has a value of around £300k.

Yes, the sale of Yatton Surgery would be necessary to help finance the development should there ever be a possibility for a new surgery in Yatton / Congresbury.

Yes, Langford Surgery does have the potential for expansion, provided funding was available.

The final decision on the permanent closure of the surgery is made by the Integrated Care Board (ICB), in collaboration with Mendip Vale Medical Group (MVMG), following an engagement process with the community and patients.

At the start of the temporary closure, all MVMG Congresbury patients selected their preferred alternative surgery—either Yatton Surgery (2 miles away) or Langford Surgery (3.1 miles away)—to continue their care.  Given the proximity of these sites to Congresbury and the continuity of care provided by an established clinical team familiar with the patient community, we have ensured that services remain as accessible as possible for Congresbury Patients.

Congresbury Surgery was covered by the clinical teams from Yatton and Langford. As such, they have gone back to their respective locations.

No staff have been made redundant due to the temporary closure.

We currently allocate approximately 1,600 patients per GP

There is scope for extended Langford as a short/medium term solution; should there be funding available. For long term housing development projects we would look to review the demands placed on the surgeries and work with the ICB to ensure there is sufficient.

We continuously monitor both demand and capacity across our sites. In the short term (1–3 years), we are currently managing well with the available space. We have taken proactive steps to maximise clinical capacity at both our Langford and Yatton surgeries by relocating administrative staff to a dedicated site at Riverbank. Additionally, we have undertaken a patient list cleanse to remove individuals living outside our catchment area. However, meeting long-term capacity needs remains a challenge.

Over the last 5 years there have been very few occasions where patients have been unable to attend. We continue to offer for all our patients advice on community transport and when urgent our clinical team have access to transport services. For patients who are too ill to come to a surgery or housebound we continue to provide home visits

Yes.  We really value the input our patients and stakeholders can contribute to this process.  We are trying to provide the best possible service to meet our patient, and community needs so your views and feedback are important to us.

We value your opinions and would be grateful if you could spare a couple of minutes to complete our survey: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Congresburysurgery/