Patients raise £4k to help keep GP

A GP has told of her thanks for a “humbling” gesture that saw her patients raise £4,000 to help her as she aims to retain control of her practice.

Dr Ann Robinson has been at the helm of Withnell Health Centre in Chorley, Lancashire, for just over a decade but had to bid to remain as the lead GP after a previous partnership was dissolved in 2021.

She initially lost to a conglomerate which runs more than 40 GP practices across north-west England.

But the decision was delayed after uproar from local residents and an admission from NHS bosses that patients had not been consulted properly.

Dr Robinson had hoped she would be awarded the contract without new competition but the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) recently said procurement rules meant it would have to launch a fresh bidding process.

In response, a group of loyal patients launched a crowdfunding campaign to help her employ an expert bid writer.

They have since raised £4,000 from more than 100 donors within four days.

Dr Robinson said: “It has been absolutely heart warming – people’s generosity was genuinely humbling.”

“It also shows the massive strength of feeling that people who haven’t got a lot of money during a cost-of-living crisis are willing to donate like this – and we are just so grateful for the support.”

Louise France, who is part of the Save Withnell Health Centre campaign group, said: “It just goes to show what can be achieved when a community comes together to support something that’s close to their heart.”

Dr. Robinson lost by just three-and-a-half marks out of a 75-mark assessment in the original procurement – something she regards as an achievement having completed the process largely single-handedly.

In 2023, the practice achieved a 97% satisfaction rating in the GP patient survey.

In a statement after the decision to undertake a competitive tender for the surgery contract, ICB chief operating officer Professor Craig Harris said it recognised the “concern within the community and the potential impact on staff and patients”.

He added: “Based on consideration of all procurement routes and the associated published guidance, we believe that this is the option which will give the quickest route to securing the best outcome for Withnell Health Centre and its patients and staff.”