Medical centres to merge to increase out of hours services

The practice, which currently has 8,300 people on roll, is to merge with Broom Valley Medical Centre, under new plans.

The proposals would see a neighbouring bungalow demolished on Broom Lane to make space for 11 extra clinical rooms and support facilities.

Planning papers filed with the application said: “Broom Valley has three consulting rooms and the whole space is not fit for purpose.

“The clinical rooms are all undersized and non-compliant with NHS standards, and there is no car parking provision.

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“It has a patient list size of 1,700 and the proposals are to close this branch down and relocate patients to Broom Lane Medical Centre.

“The proposed co-location of the two GP practices and the proposed extension brings with it associated economies and benefits of working at scale.

“The proposals would enable a number of enhanced and hosted services to be offered more readily, some of which have ceased over the years due to the lack of space.”

Broom Lane is already one of Rotherham’s “GP hubs” providing appointments in the evenings and on Saturday mornings.

The plans said: “The proposals will allow more space for the number of out of hours services to be increased further.”

Another benefit according to the plans will be the extra opportunities for training students.

“The practice currently provides a successful but limited training programme in association with the University of Sheffield,” said the planning papers.

“However, the new training contract requires students to train for 12 months within a clinical setting, instead of the current eight weeks.

“This will require more space and GP training time. In addition, the practice will have the appetite and track record to increase the number of students, provided more space is made available.”

Parking problems remain a concern for residents despite the plans including an extra ten off-street spaces — taking the total to 16.

One Beaconsfield Road resident said: “The parking on our street will be even more horrendous than it is now. People already park across our driveway.

“I definitely oppose this build. Broom Lane does not need any more cars parking on it.

“Why don’t they build a new one on the old Herringthorpe Leisure Centre site? There’s loads of room for parking there.”