No space at surgery for staff

Staff at a South Holland GP surgery are working in store cupboards or at home as it has run out of space.

Moulton Medical Centre has GPs who have to work from home because there is nowhere for them to have an office, according to a planning application due to be discussed next week.
The application to South Holland District Council says there is no permanent space for a number of nurses, including a recently-appointed respiratory nurse who can only work certain hours because of the space issue.
A report going before the planning committee on Tuesday says that three members of staff work in ‘windowless’ rooms which were previously store cupboards.
A nursing administrator has also been told to work from home and the centre would like to recruit extra staff, but can’t.
It wants to take on a pharmacy technician, to create a minor surgery clinic and expand both its physiotherapy and long-acting reversible contraception services.
The planning committee is recommended to approve the application which would see both a single and double storey extension to the High Street base.
The majority of the surgery’s 5,600 patients are over the age of 50 and new housing developments are adding pressure.
“Our dire lack of space within our practice is seriously affecting our ability to develop both our existing services and introduce new services,” says the application.
“It will have a negative effect on our patients longer term as they will have to travel further to use services or be willing to receive such services via telephone consultations which, for our demographic, is not always helpful.
“This building was purpose-built 35 years ago and we live in a very different time now with hugely different and increased patient and society demands and we must remain relevant.”
Six letters raised objections, including fears over parking and possible overlooking from a second floor.
The centre says it will encourage people to park carefully and the county highways department has not raised any objections, saying it would be possible to park for a ‘relatively short duration’ without causing a hazard.