Tuesday, St.Andrew's church. A gathering of more than thirty patients from the Westborough Health Centre. Three Labour councillors also attended (Jones, Ware-Lane, Wilis), two because they are also patients registered at this surgery.
There is a sense that there is an agenda to close WHC
down, that all one-doctor surgeries are being squeezed out in favour of the new
large health centres. This, it seems , is the agenda at large when the NHS is
in the hands of Conservatives.
This has been my surgery for more years than I care to
count, since I was a child in fact. But my desire to keep it open has nothing
to do with dewy-eyed nostalgia, and everything to do with the fact that Dr Bhattacharjee
is a good doctor, a popular doctor. He has always provided a first class
service for me.
This surgery has been damned by the Care Quality
Commission. This is at odds with my experience. I have recently had good cause
to celebrate the excellent care given here, and my diagnosis to cure period of
under two months for a very serious condition is testament to the diligence and
care given me. I may well have suffered considerably had I been registered
elsewhere.
My new lease of life is not entirely due to Dr Bhattacharjee,
but he can claim significant credit. I hope he has many years of practise in
front of him, and I hope that this is delivered at the Westborough Health
Centre.
