Patient Questions and Answers

The following questions have been prepared to assist the patients of Manchester Medical and Longsight Medical Practice.

When will the merger take place?

The merger will take place on 6th December 2021.

Will I still be able to make an appointment to see my usual doctor or healthcare professional?

Yes. We very much value all the one-to-one relationships our patients have with our doctors and healthcare professionals.  It is expected that merging practices will further increase our ability to provide you with continuity of care and access to your usual doctor and/or healthcare professional.

Will I still be able to make appointments at my usual doctors’ surgery?

Yes. We will continue to provide daily telephone, video and face to face appointments with doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals at both sites.

Will my usual surgery opening times stay the same?

Yes. We are not currently planning any changes to our core opening times.  In terms of the extended hours service, we hope to offer this to all patients of the merged practice on the last Saturday of each month.

Will there be changes made to the way I book appointments?

We will be introducing a triage system across both sites which allows us to prioritise patient requests for all appointments quickly and safely for the benefit of all our patients. Your form will be triaged by a GP, and you will receive a response from the practice within 48 hours with advice about what needs to happen next. This could be a phone call, a face-to-face appointment, a prescription or a referral to another service.

Further details on how to access this service will be sent to all registered patients. Our Patient Service Advisors will also be able to help you.

We expect to be able to move to a single telephone number for both sites. However, in the short-term, you should continue to ring your usual surgery for any other queries you may have.

We will also continue to contact all of our patients who require scheduled vaccinations, chronic disease reviews or routine screening e.g. cervical screening tests, etc.

Will any service that is currently offered by my usual surgery be removed or stopped?

No. We are not planning for any services to be removed or stopped. If anything, we anticipate that this merger will bring about a greater choice of services.

How will you make sure there is no reduction in the quality of services that are provided?

The quality of our services will continue to remain our number 1 priority and will continue to be monitored regularly in the same way as they are now. We will continue to benchmark all of our services against both national and local targets including the quality in Primary Care Standards. We will also continue to work with Manchester Health & Care Commissioning to ensure that we are flexible in our response to meet our patient’s needs within local neighbourhoods.

Will there be any changes to how I access the GP out of hours’ service?

No. In order to access a GP when the new practice is closed, you will continue to telephone the NHS 111 service and they will either signpost you to the most appropriate service or arrange for you to access a GP.

Will the current arrangements that I have in place for getting my medicines stay the same?

Yes.

Will the intended merger affect any treatment or medication I am currently receiving either at my usual surgery or any hospital?

No. Any current treatments, medications or investigations will not be affected by the merger.

Will I need to re-register to become a patient of the single GP Practice? What will happen to my health records?

No, you will not need to re-register and we also anticipate that you will remain registered with the same GP as you are now.

All our patients will automatically be merged into a single GP Practice and your health records will sit within a single patient database. The NHS safeguards in relation to patient confidentiality of information will continue to remain in place throughout the transition.

Will the single GP Practice be able to provide new services to patients?

One of the main reasons to merge and form a larger practice, is for us to be able to expand the services that we can provide locally. For example, we hope to be able to include access to see other healthcare professionals.

How will the new arrangement benefit GPs and Nurses at the practice?

Our GPs, Nurses and Healthcare professionals will all have access to a wider pool of clinical knowledge and expertise to draw upon and we will have far greater opportunities to specialise in areas such as diabetes, care of the elderly, palliative care and urgent care access.

We also anticipate that the current level of administrative tasks that our clinical staff perform will be dramatically reduced, therefore allowing them more time to spend on responding to and delivering the clinical care our patients need.

We will also be able to better cover any planned or unplanned absences which we hope will alleviate the resulting pressures felt by remaining staff. In addition, we should also be able to reduce our reliance on locum and bank staff.

We also anticipate that all our staff will be provided with greater opportunities for enhanced training and career development.

Feedback Form

If you would like to leave your feedback or suggestions regarding the merger, please complete our Merger Comments and Suggestions form.