Branch site closure - Brough Posted or Updated on 25 May 2023

A decision has been made to close the Brough branch of the Upper Eden Medical Practice by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) due to ongoing recruitment issues.

This follows a temporary closure which was put in place by the NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group’s Primary Care Committee, who agreed to a temporary closure of the branch site and relocation of services to the main practice site from 31 May 2022 for 6 months. The Committee agreed that NHS North Cumbria CCG would review the progress of the temporary branch closure at 3 months (1 September 2022) to assess how work was progressing with respects to finding alternative solutions. (Subsequently the CCG’s Commissioning responsibilities have been taken over by the North East and North Cumbria ICB from 1st July 2022).

This review has now taken place and as the practice continues to face workforce difficulties it was decided to close the branch from 1 October 2022 on a permanent basis. However please rest assured that all patients can continue to access primary care services at the main Practice in Kirkby Stephen as usual.

We know that this will be a disappointing result for many in the community. Our engagement process with Brough patients highlighted that there were some concerns around access and travel to the main branch in Kirkby Stephen.

However the difficulty of GP recruitment, which is reflected nationally, continued to be a crucial issue in this situation and it ultimately led to this decision.

It is also important to note that all patients who attend the main practice in Kirkby Stephen will continue to have access to the same complement of current clinical and non-clinical staff and existing services will be unaffected.

The practice team would like to thank patients for their continued support and understanding during this challenging time.