Station Medical Centre, the new home of Hereford Medical Group, will open its doors to patients on Thursday 29th October.
Station Medical Centre has 49 clinical rooms and the building has been designed with patients at the forefront of all decisions. The centre also benefits from a mixture of rooms that includes a number of treatment rooms, consultation rooms, phlebotomy and Health Care Assistant rooms, a clinical activity room (physiotherapy) and minor operations suite.
In addition, staff well-being is of paramount importance to HMG and the purpose built administration, education rooms and staff-well-being areas will improve the working environment for staff.
Greyfriars Surgery, Sarum House Surgery, Moorfield House Surgery, Quay House Medical Centre and King Street & Bobblestock Surgery merged in July 2018 to form Hereford Medical Group.
For over two years the Hereford Medical Group team have worked across nine sites. Aylestone Hill Surgery and King Street Surgery both closed at the end of August, Sarum House Surgery closed on the 23rd October, Moorfield House Surgery will close on the 30th October and Greyfriars Surgery will close on the 6th November.
Bobblestock Surgery, Credenhill Surgery, Quay House Medical Centre and South Wye Medical Centre will remain open and it’s hoped that this will mean that patients from all corners of the city receive the support they need at the most convenient location possible.
Patients, and visitors, will be able to park at Station Medical Centre for free when they are using Station Medical Centre and you will need to give your car registration to a receptionist when you enter the building. Please be aware that the carpark is monitored.
How to contact Hereford Medical Group?
Appointments – Patients should telephone Hereford Medical Group on 01432 272175, or complete an Online Consult form via the website. Online Consult forms are a new way of contacting the surgery and the form should not be used for an urgent problem. The form allows you to fill in details about why you are contacting the surgery and a member of the team will get back to you within two working days. Due to COVID-19 patients can no longer ‘drop-in’ to the surgery to book appointments and HMG have had to remove the booking facility on online access sites such as Patient Access and the NHS app. HMG phone lines are open 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday.
Prescriptions – The safest way to request a prescription is online, if you have registered for an online access service. Patients can also send an email to hmg.pharmacists@nhs.net or telephone the prescription line on 01432 272175 (the prescription line is open 10am-1pm). Patients should allow two days from requesting a prescription to collecting their prescription from their nominated pharmacy.
General enquiries – Patients can use an Online Consult form via the website to submit a general enquiry or telephone the surgery if they need to speak to one of the reception team.
Patients who are not registered for an online service, and wish to, should register for the NHS app. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and not being able to have patients pop into the surgery, HMG cannot set patients up for other online services at this time.
Patients can request prescriptions via the NHS app, book appointments (not available currently) and get advice about coronavirus amongst other things. For more information on the NHS app visit: https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs-services/the-nhs-app/
Hereford Medical Group, just like surgeries across England, have had to limit some of the services they deliver based on NHS England guidance and to ensure their most clinically vulnerable patients are seen. If you have a health concern please contact them, and please be reassured that if a face to face appointment is required that you will be seen.
All urgent, on the day, appointment requests will be via telephone first and the clinician you speak with on the telephone will invite you in for an appointment if necessary. The duty team, on the day team, will be based at Station Medical Centre and you will need to attend Station Medical Centre for an appointment if you are asked to go in. You will not wait in the waiting area with other patients if you are visiting for an on the day appointment and the process will be explained to you on the telephone.
What do I do if visiting for a routine appointment?
If you have a routine appointment booked at Station Medical Centre one of the benefits of the new building is that you will be able to wait in the waiting area, however the HMG team request that you do not arrive more than five minutes prior to your appointment to limit the amount of time you spend at the surgery.
Masks must be worn when visiting any HMG surgeries for an appointment.
- When you arrive the door will open and you will need to wait for the receptionist before the next door opens
- The receptionist will ask you some questions to see if you have developed any COVID-19 symptoms since booking your appointment
- Once it is confirmed that you are able to attend your appointment the receptionist will open the second door
- You will need to sanitise your hands at one of the sanitization pods and then the receptionist will show you where to wait
- The receptionist will take you to the clinical room for your appointment
- After your appointment the clinician will show you out.
The reception team will clean down and sanitise any areas that a patient has touched during their visit and they follow a thorough cleaning regime when cleaning clinical rooms in-between patient visits.
Patients attending an appointment at Bobblestock Surgery, Credenhill Surgery, Quay House Medical Centre and South Wye Medical Centre are not able to use the waiting rooms. This is due to the size of the waiting rooms. HMG understands this is not an ideal way of operating but they would like to thank all of their patients for their understanding during this time.
Patient feedback is so important to the HMG team and to allow them to ensure the service they deliver best fits patient’s needs, from the feedback they receive they learn and grow as an organisation. HMG has an active Patient Participation Group (PPG) who they have continued to meet with during the COVID-19 pandemic (via zoom!).
Station Medical Centre originally only had one lift in the initial plans, but after a PPG member raised that the building should have another in case one were to be out of use, the designers took that on board and now the new building has two lifts! If you would like to join the PPG please complete a form via the website or write to HMG if you do not have internet access.
Mr. Ceri Chaplin, Business Manager, Hereford Medical Group said:
“When we merged just over 2 years ago the next target was always going to be the development of a new surgery building to replace 5 of our older premises. Despite a global pandemic we are excited to be moving into Station Medical Centre. The building has been designed to allow us to develop services with a physiotherapy activity room and minor operations suite and purpose built administration and education areas along with staff relaxation areas. We have been fortunate in working with a local developer (Prime) and building contractor (Speller Metcalfe) to deliver a fantastic new premises which will provide 21st Century facilities for our staff and patients.”
Dr. Jonathan Duffett, GP Partner and Chair of Hereford Medical Group:
“We are delighted to finally be starting patient services from Station Medical Centre. This amazing facility is the result of many years of detailed planning, collaboration and hard work by many people. The result is a building fit to provide care for decades to come. We are immensely grateful to all who contributed, including the patience and understanding of our patient population.”
Dr. Andrew Watts, GP Partner and Clinical Director, Hereford Medical Group:
“We feel very fortunate to have been supported by the NHS to move into this wonderful new building. We loved our quirky old buildings that had served us well over recent decades, but there was just not enough space to accommodate all of our staff. In addition, there was insufficient ground floor space, with no lifts, meaning frail or disabled patients would sometimes struggle to climb the stairs or they would have to wait until a ground floor room was free. Now we have a purpose built modern facility that will help us improve our service for decades to come. Thank you to all involved and in particular to the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group for approving this project.”
Richard Laing, Chairman, Prime:
“As a Hereford resident myself, it is great to see this fabulous new investment in the City’s healthcare infrastructure, which I am sure will support the very best in joined-up health and care services for the locality. I am really pleased to be working locally after many years delivering healthcare projects across the UK. The pandemic has no doubt fast forwarded the future of Primary Care and Station Medical Centre is a physical manifestation of what we should be delivering to meet our community’s needs.”
Karina Blunn, Lead Nurse, Hereford Medical Group:
“The Lead nurse and the nursing team are looking forward to welcoming their patients to the state of the art purpose built building with equipment close to hand and a variety of colleagues to support the patient journey”.
Useful links/information:
Address: Station Medical Centre, Station Approach, Hereford, HR1 1BB.
Appointment and general enquiries: 01432 272175 (Option 1)
Prescriptions: 01432 272175 (Option 2)
Website: www.herefordmedicalgroup.co.uk
Join PPG: https://dpt5.gpwebform.co.uk/patientgroup/id/e6b371d2fea349b147d9e5c92c0ea856
Online consult form: https://www.online-consult.co.uk/org/hereford-medical-group (also accessed from the front page of the website)
NHS app: https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs-services/the-nhs-app/
