A NEW Wyre Forest GP partnership is being formed following a merger between five practices in a move to help meet current NHS pressures.

Following initial discussions with the 12 district practices, Bewdley Medical Centre, Church Street Surgery in Kidderminster, Hagley Surgery, Stourport Health Centre and York House Medical Centre also in Stourport, have combined to form the Wyre Forest Health Partnership.

The 28 GP partners and 170 staff in the new partnership, which will see all five individual centres remain open, now care for more than 59,000 patients.

The merger, one of the first of its kind for scale and complexity, involved GP partners from the five practices negotiating with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as well as each other.

Dr Simon Gates, chairman of the new partnership, said: “Achieving the merger has taken a huge amount of time and energy by the GPs and their staff.

“We do believe that the merger provides us with the best opportunity to continue providing high quality care to our patients at a time when the NHS needs to respond effectively to the well-publicised challenges of increasing demand including patients living longer often with multiple complex health conditions.”

Each practice consulted with their patient groups before the merger and decided that a patient representative will sit on the board to help oversee the running of the organisation.

The partnership has plans to offer a more extensive range of services for patients in the future, but said patients will notice few differences in the short term as most changes will initially be in administration.

A spokeswoman for the partnership said: “Cost saving was not a primary reason for merger, and so all staff have been offered roles in the new organisation.

“The partners felt it was important that the patient voice should be included at the centre of the partnership’s decision making.

“The merger has created interest from across the country as GPs elsewhere look to learn from the Wyre Forest Health Partnership’s experience.”

An open event is being held at Kidderminster Town Hall on Tuesday, February 10, at 7pm regarding the partnership.

Patients, or carers of patients, registered at one of the five practices are being urged to attend the event if they have any questions about the merger.