What the sad decline of my local GP surgery tells us about the state of the NHS

Not far from the Imperial War Museum in South London is Lambeth Walk, a street made famous by a song in a popular musical, Me and My Girl, which opened in the West End in 1937. Sadly, there is a possibility that fewer and fewer people will be doing the Lambeth Walk, including myself, in search of medical care because the Lambeth Walk GP Surgery is having to move. Its lease is running out.

The leaseholders are the Department of Education and King’s College, London. The Department of Education I know little about, but from 1958 to 1961 I spent three enjoyable years reading theology at King’s on the Strand. I even became the president of the theological faculty. So my loyalties are mixed, but leases are leases. However, when it means that 8,700 people, many of whom are elderly like myself, have a much longer journey to get quality medical care, I know where my loyalties lie.

Lambeth Walk GP Practice came to my rescue over two years ago. The practice that I had been going to and had much admired for 30 years had, I thought, lost the plot – as well as my confidence.

It wasn’t as though I was coming to the Lambeth Walk Practice without any medical baggage. I brought with me treatment for a cancerous growth on my scalp, prostate cancer and at one stage, under the guidance of St Thomas’ Hospital, it was decided to stop my heart and restart it! At 85, I am in need of TLC, and from Lambeth Walk, along with its close association with Tommy’s and Guy’s hospitals, I got it.

Although you are always warned about the side effects of any treatment, if you are like me, you take little notice. So, when unpleasant and inconvenient side effects developed as a result of the radiotherapy I had received, I knew where to turn to for help: Lambeth Walk GP Practice.

The practice has been offered new premises, but it will have to relocate from SE11 to SW9. Patients will have to take quite a bus journey, followed by a 10-minute walk (at least). That is not on.

The practice serves a very local community. Patient numbers are growing. At the last Patient Participation Group meeting I attended, the hall was packed – 150 people were very concerned for the future. Many were very angry – not with the doctors because they knew that, over the past eight years, they had been doing their hardest to find somewhere (but then finding premises suitable for a medical practice isn’t easy). You need space for reception, consulting rooms for doctors, nurses and health support workers. Physiotherapy needs space, as do students.

I was seen by a student once and she was superb. These days, we need to take care of our medical students, as they are the future of the NHS. The Lambeth Walk Practice certainly does that.

In any survey, Lambeth Walk is streets ahead of the majority of practices in England. In a GP patient survey that asked how easy it was to get through to someone on the phone, 82 per cent of Lambeth Walk patients responded positively, whereas in the rest of England the average was only 49 per cent. In some practices, receptionists are seen as guard dogs! Not so at Lambeth Walk, as 88 per cent of patients found them helpful. Just one more statistic: 95 per cent found their needs were met during the last general practice appointment they had. In every metric, Lambeth Walk came out above the rest.

I know this is a lot to ask of politics with the state the country is in at the moment, but why can’t the Department of Education and the Health Department work together on this? What about a bit of joined up thinking?

It must be easier to find premises for an enlarged Maths School (which King’s College wants to establish) than to find a new medical surgery. After all, if I remember correctly, a secondary school has recently closed in Kennington which is very near the Oval Tube station on the Northern Line. A very easy journey for the young.

Please may those who have the power and the responsibility think constructively, because I – along with 8,699 other people – want to continue to do the Lambeth Walk, and continue to get the medical care that we need.

The Revd Canon Roger Royle is an Anglican priest, broadcaster, journalist and former conduct of Eton College