GP partners at the Botley Medical Centre have given notice on their contract to provide primary care services for their 13,400 registered patients.  This will also affect Kennington Health Centre.

The six month notice period is effective from 2 March 2023.

Engagement Events

The Kennington Health Centre patient engagement event is on Tuesday 19 September 5.30pm to 6.30pm. To publicise this event, a flier can be downloaded here. 

The Botley Medical Centre patient event is on Wednesday 20 September from 6.30pm. To publicise this event, a flier can be downloaded here. 

Update: 31 October 2023

GP services in Botley, Kennington and surrounding villages have now changed following the decision of Botley Medical Centre partners to leave the practice earlier this year.

From 1 October, most patients have been successfully transferred to other local GP surgeries: Beaumont Elms Practice in Oxford city (formerly 19 Beaumont Street Surgery); the Manor Surgery in Headington; White Horse Medical Practice in Faringdon; and Eynsham Medical Centre.

The surgery premises in Botley and Kennington are both open so most patients continue to get care close to home.

People can register at an alternative GP practice if they wish to. Details can be found via the NHS website: Find a GP - NHS (www.nhs.uk) which provides information about the locations of practices and whether they are accepting new patients. GP practices provide services for patients within a defined boundary and may not accept people on to their patient lists if they live outside the boundary.

Patients who are concerned about the changes can contact the patient services team at bobicbox.palscomplaints@nhs.net or call 0800 0526088.

 

Update: 21 September 2023

Patients registered at the Botley and Kennington surgeries have now received a formal letter from the NHS explaining which practices they will be moving to and including details about the new arrangements for their care. We would like to reassure you that the new arrangements will ensure all patients have access to high quality general practice services. All practices offer highly skilled multidisciplinary teams including doctors, nurses and other clinicians such as paramedics and pharmacists.

These changes have been necessary following the decision by the partners at Botley Medical Centre to terminate their contract.  New providers were found to run services from the existing Botley and Kennington buildings and boundaries were agreed.  A small number of patients registered with Botley Medical Centre are living outside of the agreed boundaries.  These patients have been registered with an alternative practice. We acknowledge that many have been with Botley Medical Centre for a number of years and will have concerns about a move to a different practice. Practice boundaries exist so that GPs can make a commitment to and take responsibility for a population within a specified geographical area. 

Many GP services are now bookable online providing access to medical advice (clinical or non-clinical) and for either urgent or routine treatments. Accessing services via the online form means you will be triaged by clinicians quickly and efficiently and ensures the most appropriate clinician responds to you.  Those who are unable to access online can still call the practice for help and advice. 

A small number of patients will need to travel further to access their GP. Where there is a need to see a clinician face-to-face there are volunteer transport schemes such as the Appleton Volunteer Transport Scheme who will may be able to support:  Appleton Volunteer Transport Scheme | Oxfordshire MarketPlace

Update: 18 August 2023

Thank you to Botley and Kennington patients and everyone who attended the public meeting on Monday 14 August at Egrove Park to meet representatives of the Manor Surgery and 19 Beaumont Street GP practices. 

NHS Oxfordshire primary care team was delighted by the attendance, but we do apologise for any difficulties which resulted from the large turnout. There will be more opportunities to meet with the practices’ teams before they take over GP services on 1 October.

Questions and answers from the meeting will be available on this website shortly.

The NHS will send letters to all patients currently registered at the Botley and Kennington surgeries about new arrangements for their care in the first week of September. This will let patients know which practice they have been allocated.

Update: 2 August 2023

Patients registered at Botley Medical Centre and Kennington Health Centre are invited to meet some of the GP practice team members from The Manor Surgery and 19 Beaumont Street on Monday 14 August 2023 at Egrove Park, Kennington Road, OX1 5NZ from 7pm - 8pm.  

This special event is being held for patients to ask questions and hear about the future of GP services from 1 October, when the two practices take over the running of Botley and Kennington surgeries.

 

Update: 13 July 2023

We are pleased to announce that two Oxford-based practices will be taking over GP services at Botley Medical Centre and Kennington Health Centre from 1 October 2023.

The practice team at the Manor Surgery in Headington will provide services to patients from the Kennington Health Centre site, while the team at 19 Beaumont Street, Oxford, will provide services jointly to patients from the Botley Medical Centre site and from Beaumont Street.

A small number of registered patients living outside the ‘catchment’ areas of the new providers will be registered with other GP practices, most likely closer to home.

Registered patients do not need to take any action to register with the new providers and patient care will not be interrupted. The NHS will send a formal letter to everyone affected ahead of the changes from 1 October advising them of details of their new practice. There will be an opportunity for people to register with other surgeries at this stage, depending on practice boundaries.

We will be inviting Botley and Kennington patients to a special public meeting in August when patients will meet members of the teams from Manor Surgery and 19 Beaumont Street in person, to hear about future plans and to ask questions. Details of the event will be available on the ICB website in due course.

We are confident these new arrangements will be welcomed by the patients, especially as the new providers are well-established, successful practices committed to providing the best possible care for the people they serve.

The changes have been made following the decision by the current partners at Botley Medical Centre to resign their contract to provide primary care services.

Update 28 June 2023

Following last month’s meeting with stakeholders to carry out due diligence on GP practices interested in taking over primary care services at Botley Medical Centre and Kennington Health Centre, BOB ICB is now progressing the changes with two Oxfordshire surgeries.

The ICB primary care team is working with all the GP practice teams (current and prospective) to finalise details around premises, staffing and other support they may need. Both Botley and Kennington sites will remain open for all patient services as both interested practices have committed to providing services from the existing premises – one from each site. All practice support staff currently working in Kennington and Botley are being offered the opportunity to transfer to the new providers if they want to.

A small number of registered patients living outside the ‘catchment’ areas of the new providers will be registered with other GP practices, most likely closer to home.
BOB ICB expects to announce the new providers in the middle of July and patients will be offered the chance to meet the new teams and ask questions at a special public event shortly after. The new practices will be taking over services from 1 October 2023.

In the meantime, there is no need for patients to do anything. The NHS will send letters to every patient once the new practices are named, with contact details and other essential information. Some patients may choose to change their arrangements at this point.

 

Update 25 May 2023

BOB ICB has brought together key stakeholders this week to carry out due diligence on plans submitted by a number of Oxfordshire GP practices to take over primary care services at Botley Medical Centre and Kennington Health Centre from September 2023.

The panel, which included the Patient Participation Group and independent patient watchdog Healthwatch Oxfordshire, considered proposals from two practices to provide GP care to most patients in Botley and Kennington. A small number of patients in the outlying parts of the Botley/Kennington catchment area may be offered the chance to register with other practices closer to home.

Both interested practices have committed to providing services from the existing premises – one from each site - and all practice support staff currently working in Kennington and Botley will be offered the opportunity to transfer to the new providers if they want to. 

The next step of the process is for the senior management team at the ICB to consider the submissions and approve the new providers. We expect to be able to share the outcomes and give full details to all patients and key stakeholders in early July.    

Update 21 April 2023

BOB ICB is pleased to say we have received a number of Expressions of Interest from Oxfordshire GP practices to provide services to registered patients at Botley Medical Centre and those at  Kennington Health Centre from September 2023.  We will now carry out due diligence to ensure that potential providers have a reasonable plan in place and we will update patients, the Patient Participation Group and other key stakeholders on progress as soon as we can.

Update 06 April 2023

Below is the latest information about the work going on to find a new provider for GP services at Botley Medical Centre and Kennington Health Centre.

What happens now?

We have asked for ‘expressions of interest’ from Oxfordshire GP practices that could provide primary care services from either the Botley or Kennington sites or both.

These ‘expressions of interest’ will remain confidential.

Interested practices will complete a ‘mini competition’ document explaining how they will provide an effective primary care service for the residents of Botley and Kennington.

These documents will be assessed by a panel including:

• representatives of BOB ICB from primary care, quality and
• Berks, Bucks and Oxon Local Medical Council (which represents GPs).
• a member of staff from the Botley Medical
• an NHS procurement
• a representative from the independent patient watchdog Healthwatch Oxfordshire as an observer
• a patient representative nominated by the Patient Participation Group (PPG)

 

 

DRAFT Timeline:

 

Date	Action for finding new provider (s)
24/03/23	Invitation to all Oxfordshire practices to express an interest
11/04/23	Deadline for BOB ICB to receive ‘Expressions of Interest’. BOB ICB to seek proposals from interested practices
Early May	Deadline for return of GP proposals
Mid May	Panel meeting made up of NHS and patient reps to assess the proposals
Mid June	BOB ICB recommends a preferred provider(s)
Early July	BOB ICB confirms new provider(s)
Mid July	Patients informed of the decision
September	The new provider (s) starts delivering a primary care service

 

What happens if there is no interest?

If no local provider submits an ‘expression of interest’ BOB ICB will find a caretaker practice (from a national list) to deliver health services for the two sites from September 2023, when the doctors’ present contract ends, for one year. During this time, we would carry out a wider search to find a new provider from September 2024.