Due to rising operational costs and ongoing staff shortages, Farrier House Surgery are no longer able to operate their service in Worcester, and so are closing from 1st March 2024.

Worcester City Primary Care Network and NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire have worked together to ensure patients at Farrier House are safely dispersed at the nine alternative practices across the city when the practice closes.

If you need to see a GP or Practice Nurse after 2nd March 2024, you will not be able to be seen by staff at Farrier House Surgery. You will be able to register with another practice – please ensure you do so as soon as you are able to, otherwise you will not be able to easily access free healthcare.

Your records will still be transferred but this causes extra administrative work for the practice seeing you and will mean they do not have access to your records when you are seen.

It is better that you register with another practice so they can see you with your full medical records and are aware of your medical history and current needs.

If you have not registered with a new Practice since 1st March 2024, you will need to do so in order to easily access free healthcare, including ordering prescriptions.

No, you must individually register members of your family with your new practice.

Decide which GP practice you would like to register with. You can find a GP practice at www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-gp. This website shows you which practices are accepting new patients, and who you can register with based on their practice boundary.

You can register online, or by visiting the GP practice, where you can pick up a registration form, fill it in, and hand it back to the new GP practice.

The following nine GP practices are part of Worcester City Primary Care Network:

• Severn Valley Medical Practice

  • Henwick Halt - WR2 5HL

  • Lyppard Grange - WR4 0DZ

• St Johns House Surgery - WR2 5ER

• Thorneloe Lodge Surgery - WR1 1RU

• Spring Gardens Group Medical Practice - WR1 2BS

• St Martins Gate Surgery - WR5 1EZ

• Haresfield House Surgery - WR5 1HG

• Elbury Moor Medical Centre - WR4 9TX.

• Barbourne Health Centre - WR3 7LH

• Albany House Surgery - WR1 3DU

You can find their addresses, phone numbers, and links to register with them in a table by clicking the button below this FAQ section.

You have the option of registering with any practice that is currently accepting new patients if you live within their boundary area. If you live on the outskirts of Worcester City Primary Care Network, this may be with a practice not listed here.

To find out which practices you can register with, visit www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-gp. You can also find information on how to register if you don’t have a fixed address, or if you are a temporary resident in the UK.

If you do not live within Worcester City but are currently registered with Farrier House Surgery, you should look for a practice close to where you live.

Your patient records will remain at Farrier House Surgery until you move to a new surgery. Your new surgery will arrange for your medical records to be transferred.

The records of any patients who have not registered with another practice by 1st March 2024 are transferred to a central location managed by NHS England. They are held there until your new practice requests your records.

No it doesn’t, but if you need medical care urgently, it might be more difficult for other NHS services to treat you in the best way for your needs.

Being registered with a GP means other services can find out more information such as what other health conditions you might have, any previous illnesses, or what medications you might require for example. They can assess and help you more effectively if you are registered with a practice.

If you already have an appointment booked at the practice before the closure you should continue to attend these until you have registered with your new GP practice.

As of 1st March 2024, clinical services are no longer being offered at Farrier House Surgery, therefore new appointments cannot be booked.

If you need to see a GP, please register with a new Practice.

Contact the surgery as normal, until you have registered with your new GP practice – which you must do before Friday 1st March 2024.

All practices in Worcester City Primary Care Network offer online registration. You can register with your new practice online by following the instructions on the practice’s website, without having to physically go to the new practice.

Please ensure you have enough medication during the time you transfer to a new practice. Due to the number of people who will need to move to another surgery there might be a slight delay in processing repeat prescriptions from your new practice, whilst they access your medical records, so please leave plenty of time.

Your new practice may also request that you make an appointment with the doctor or nurse to review your medication. This is a common process to ensure the safe administration of your medications.

The hospital has been told that the surgery is closing. It would be helpful if you confirm with them which surgery you are registered at so they can update their records.

All community staff have been told that the surgery is closing. The next time the District Nurse visits you should tell them which surgery you are registered at. If you are having any difficulty registering elsewhere, please let them know to ask the surgery to help.

The District Nurses work in Neighbourhood Teams and will be able to explain who will be caring for you in future. In many cases you will have the same District Nurse. They will arrange further appointments with you, so please discuss this with them at your next visit.

We cannot guarantee who will be carrying out your care. The Community staff work in Neighbourhood Teams and therefore it is likely that the same staff will be able to provide your care. Please discuss this with them at your next visit.

We are aware of the numbers that practices can accommodate, and the nine Worcester City practices are taking on a set number of former Farrier House patients based on their size and capacity. New staff have been recruited in some practices to allow for this, with plans to recruit more in the future.

There may however be a slight delay in processing of your registration in the initial transition period. In the meantime, continue to use Farrier House Surgery until your re-registration with the new practice has taken place.

All practices in Worcester City are part of Worcester City Primary Care Network, which offers a range of clinics and services to patients, regardless of which practice they are registered with. You will still be able to access these clinics and services when you move to a new practice.

If you wish you can discuss your situation with Healthwatch Worcestershire (who is the local independent health and social care champion). They can be contacted as follows:

www.healthwatchworcestershire.co.uk

info@healthwatchworcestershire.co.uk

01386 550264

Healthwatch Worcestershire, Civic Centre, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Pershore, Worcestershire, WR10 1PT

Currently any patients registered with Farrier House receive their care via the PCN care home team. This team consists of GPs, ANPs, Paramedics, Pharmacists and Pharmacy technicians.

Elbury Moor have offered to hold the patients registration with the closure of Farrier, but we forsee no impact on the residents of Fernhill House as the Care Home Team will continue to provide their care.

This will mean that they will see the same clinicians weekly for their scheduled visits as well as when the home raises any concerns on a day to day basis.

We plan to move the registrations of the patients across to Elbury Moor on or around the 17th February. This date has been advised by our pharmacy team as not to disrupt the patients monthly medication ordering cycle and avoid any risk of disruption.