Proposed Railside Surgery Closure FAQ

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Dear Patients,

Thank you for your feedback regarding the proposed closure of Railside Surgery in Gillingham. The feedback survey remains open, but we would like to address the main concerns raised so far:

๐Ÿ. ๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ซ?

As outlined in our communications to patients, we originally planned to keep all sites open and operate as usual. However, as tenants, we do not own Railside Surgery and cannot control rent increases. A planned rent increase was communicated to the practice in October, and after financial planning, it was determined that continuing to provide services from Railside was not financially viable.

๐Ÿ. ๐–๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐‘๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž ๐’๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐š ๐ซ๐ž๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐Ÿ๐Ÿ?

No, the practice will retain the same number of staff. These team members will be relocated to other sites, with the majority moving to Balmoral Gardens.

๐Ÿ‘. ๐–๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐‘๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž ๐’๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š๐ฏ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ?

No, the number of appointments offered will remain unchanged. Clinical staff will move to Balmoral Gardens, and patients will continue to access the same level of care from this site or other locations if they prefer.

๐Ÿ’. ๐–๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐‘๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž ๐’๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐š๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ฏ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ?

No, in fact, we plan to expand services at Balmoral Gardens, including the addition of ECGs and ear syringing in the near future.

๐Ÿ“. ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ž ๐’๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ž, ๐๐š๐ฅ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐†๐š๐ซ๐๐ž๐ง๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐‘๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž. ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐›๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ž๐?

From Monday, 25th November, Balmoral Gardens will extend its opening hours to 8amโ€“6pm, with a break for lunch. These extended hours will ensure continued access to services from this site.

๐Ÿ”. ๐–๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ž?

No, we are committed to maintaining the same standard of care across all sites. To support this, we are increasing the number of clinicians and their working hours at Balmoral Gardens.

Thank you for your understanding and continued feedback.

Link to survey: https://forms.gle/aASRHCJVPqztR3Vd8