Barnsley GP practice changes due to safety concern with building

The GP practice has had approval to close the Brierley building and relocate all their services to another GP surgery building on Acorn Way in Grimethorpe on a temporary basis. This will start on Monday 24 April 2023.

All appointments due to take place at Brierley Medical Centre will take place at the Grimethorpe Centre, based in the building used by the Highgate Surgery. This will allow further structural investigations of the building in Brierley to take place.

Patients will be contacted to inform them of the changes. This will be by text for those who have provided their number to the practice and by letter for all other patients. All appointment dates and times already booked for Brierley, from Monday 24 April onwards, will now take place at the Grimethorpe Centre. The telephone number to book, rearrange or cancel appointments remains the same. The NHS app is unaffected. All home visits will take place as usual.

A small number of patients who use the Highgate Surgery in Grimethorpe on a Thursday will now be asked to use the other surgery site at Shafton during this temporary change to accommodate the move.

Both GP practices – Brierley Medical Centre (Brierley) and Highgate Surgery (Grimethorpe and Shafton) are run by Barnsley Healthcare Federation.

This does not affect the Grimethorpe Surgery which is also based on Acorn Way. They are a separate GP practice and are not involved in any move.

GP services in Barnsley are commissioned by NHS South Yorkshire. They are responsible for ensuring safe, high quality primary care GP services are provided to meet the needs of local communities.

James Barker, chief executive of Barnsley Healthcare Federation: “Following a recent review of the facilities at Brierley Medical Centre, we have had to take the decision to temporarily relocate our Brierley Medical Practice to Grimethorpe whilst we investigate further. The safety of all our staff and patients will always be our highest priority and whilst we always plan to deliver medical services from Brierley the current state of the building makes it impossible. We plan to keep all of our patients updated with our plans in regard to the practice and want to return to delivering services from Brierley as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Wendy Lowder, executive place director for Barnsley, NHS South Yorkshire: “We have approved the relocation of the Brierley Medical Centre on a temporary basis so the team can get essential investigations carried out and importantly keep staff and patients safe. We understand the structural issue has worsened and so staying in the building currently isn’t an option.

“We recognise that this move might be difficult for some people and we’d welcome and encourage people to support each other where they can. Please speak to the practice team too if you are going to struggle to go to Grimethorpe in the short term. We’ll be working with the practice as they carry out building inspections to ensure they can return as soon as is safe to do so.”