Plans for a new Shaw and Crompton Health Centre scrapped

The Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) announced it was axing the scheme in a shock announcement via Zoom, according to the GP practice involved.

The plans would have seen land on the former Shaw Baths site redeveloped to enable the relocation of the Oak Gables Partnership GP surgery onto a new site and into a new facility by March 2023 subject to various conditions and timescales.

In a letter sent to The Oak Gable Partnership last week the CCG announced it was ‘withdrawing’ its support of the development due to increases in ‘costs and inflation’ triggered by the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine.

The letter reads: “As you will no doubt be aware from the daily reports in the national press, our national economy now faces a significant challenge and has major implications in terms of pressure on public finances and dramatic changes in terms of rising prices through inflation.

“These are now considerable factors impacting our ability to proceed.”

It continued: "At the time of developing the Outline Business Case, the organisation was not in a position to foresee what have now become such significant increases, both on cost and inflation.

"These impacts have materialised over recent weeks as we emerge from the Covid period, and more recently, the impact of the tragic events in eastern Europe.

"Such was the materiality of the change that this needed to be reported to the CCG senior management team earlier this week."

“Although the capital allocation remained available and the land continues to be available, the increase in revenue costs, in excess of an additional £500,000, make the proposal unaffordable and hence the decision to halt,” the letter adds.

In response, The Oak Gables Partnership wrote on its website: “It is with the utmost disappointment that we must inform all our patients that the proposed new health centre for Shaw and Crompton has again been declined.

“The explanations we have been given for this is increased costs which could potentially create inequalities for other areas of Oldham, Covid and the fighting in Ukraine?

"This is even though a site had been procured, capital funding had been allocated, a developer commissioned, and plans submitted.

"We received the news via Zoom just as we were finalising all the details, but the official notice came 24 hours later.

“The practice is beyond upset and exasperated, as we really believed it was the light at the end of the tunnel this time and we hoped that we could give our patients the clean, modern, functional premises that you all deserve, with greater scope for additional services again.”

“Our current premises only had a 30-year lifespan and 50 years later it is still being stuck together by any means possible, but you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”, the partnership added.

Patients of the Oak Gables Partnership GP surgery have been invited to send any questions or comments regarding the decision to OLDCCG.PrimaryCare@nhs.net, FAO: Financial Department.

A spokesperson for Oldham CCG said: “We are also disappointed in the change in situation and the impact this has had on the plans for the project.

"As a result of the pandemic, recent tragic events in Eastern Europe and the cost-of-living crises, our national economy faces significant challenges and has major implications in terms of pressure on public finances and rising prices through inflation."

They added: “We are committed to working with the GP practices involved, along with the Local Authority, to move the project forward appropriately to support the local community. Together we will work out what options we may have available to us and the potential timescale to continue to seek a secure facility for Shaw.”