GP practices struggling to deliver thanks to extreme weather conditions

A number of GP Practices in Oldham are currently experiencing difficulty providing services to patients, due to extreme weather conditions across the Borough.

NHS Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group’s Chief Clinical Officer, Dr John Patterson, has revealed that several practices are currently struggling to deliver a full service and that some surgeries are not accessible, due to road closures.

Dr Patterson said: “The extreme weather conditions have unfortunately compromised some of our front line primary care services.

"I would ask patients to be mindful of this when planning to attend scheduled appointments and also when considering attending for urgent appointments today.

"Our priority is to try and ensure all patients’ needs are met, however these extenuating circumstances are presenting us with serious challenges in terms of staffing and covering some of our affected services.

“I would ask all patients to check with their practice before attempting to travel to appointments today, and utilise their local pharmacy if available and NHS 111 for other non urgent health issues. 

"Our frontline teams, providers and partners are working hard to provide cover, and we will endeavour to resume business as usual as soon as we possibly can.”

So far the affected and likely to be affected practices are:

Moorside Medical Practice

Springfield House

Oak Gables

Lees Medical Practice

St Chad’s

Oldham Medical Service

Saddleworth Practice

NHS Oldham CCG's website will be updated with the latest information on this as the situation progresses. 

A knock-on effect to the Urgent Care system in Oldham is expected, and Dr Patterson has asked that A&E and Walk In services should only be used when absolutely necessary.

He added: “I would ask all patients with non-critical or non-life threatening health problems to be very mindful of how they use our urgent care services during this time.

"Pressures on services will be worsened if people are accessing them inappropriately, but obviously for patients with life threatening or serious illness then A&E is the correct place for them to be seen.”