A NEW GP service could move into a soon-to-be empty East Dorset practice near Ringwood later this summer, the NHS has announced.

Dr Thomas Mckinstry, the current GP at the Village Medical Practice in Station Road, West Moors, is to retire at the end of June but residents registered with the surgery will receive no break in treatment.

The new practice will be provided by the Providence Surgery in Boscombe, which recently received an ‘outstanding’ rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after an inspection in October last year.

Dr Mufeed Ni’man, a GP partner at the Providence Surgery, said: “We are very pleased that Providence Surgery will be taking over the registered patient list of the Village Practice following the retirement of Dr McKinstry.

“We understand how important it is to patients that a GP service remains on the current Village Practice site and we are working with Dr McKinstry to agree the lease of the Village premises and hope to reach agreement shortly.

“This means that patients will be able to access their new GP service in the same place that they do now.”

Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has announced that patients will not need to do anything to register with the new provider, which will start operating on July 1.

Over the next few weeks the Providence Surgery will be writing to existing patients to explain how they will be taking over their care, and the practice is arranging a ‘getting to know you’ event early next month so residents can chat with staff and raise queries.

“We will also be seeking to work with other practices, both during mobilisation of the new branch practice on the Village site and in the future, to build productive working relationships which support high quality patient care,” added Dr Ni’man.

At its last inspection in June last year the Village Medical Practice was rated as ‘requires improvement’ by the CQC.

Inspectors found that “accurate patient records were not kept” and the necessary employment checks for staff were not always carried out.

However, the CQC reported that the practice was rated better than average for patient satisfaction.

Anyone with questions is invited to contact the Primary Care Team at Dorset CCG by email on primary.care@dorsetccg.nhs.uk or by phone on 0333 241 2495.