The Ascot Plan

• Magnolia House Surgery, Sunningdale
• Kings Corner Surgery, Sunninghill
• Ascot Medical Centre, Ascot
• Green Meadows Surgery

All four practices have now formed the Ascot Primary Care Network (PCN). Find out more about Primary Care Networks here.

The Ascot Plan will enable sustainable primary and community care services with two points of delivery:

• one at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, co-located with Frimley Health Foundation Trust. This will see Ascot Medical Centre and Green Meadows Surgery co-locate to the new premises at Heatherwood Hospital.
• and one adjacent to Ben Lynwood Care Village in Sunninghill.

The current primary care service in Ascot is not sustainable for a number of reasons. Reasons for change includes:

• demand on services which is set to increase further as the local population is set to increase between now and 2038;
• inability to increase capacity in the current primary care services as premises cannot be extended further to accommodate a growing population;
• pressures on staffing and the inability to train additional staff as there is a national shortage of GPs and over 20% of GPs in the Ascot area are aged over 55 and are due to retire in the next ten years;
• modernisation of care which isn’t deliverable in its current form

Patients will have access to GPs with special interests

• Increase in appointments being offered with one appointment system across the four practices, enabling greater choice for the patient
• Improved triaging so that patients who need an appointment or home visit can be prioritised
• An enhanced clinical workforce skill mix, patients can be seen by the right person, in the right place, at the right time without compromising other patient appointments
• Working in collaboration, both sites will enable delivery of additional services such as clinical pharmacists, social prescribing, paramedics, physiotherapists, mental health coordinators and talking therapies
• Reduce unnecessary hospital admissions through integrating primary care skills and the ability to support patients in their own homes

The case for change is recognised nationally as part of NHS England’s General Practice Forward View (GPFV):

GPFV statement: There has been a steady rise in the patient experience, a target driven culture and a growing requirement for GPs to accommodate work previously undertaken in hospitals, or in social care. This has resulted in unprecedented pressure on practices, which impacts on staff and patients. Small changes in general practice capacity has a big impact on demand for hospital care, so the need to support general practice in underpinning the whole NHS has never been greater.