Lifton parish councillor and GP Dr Michael Sparrow told a meeting of the council that because he officially retired in November and another doctor, Jonathan Carty, is leaving Lifton Surgery this summer, ‘it runs a potential risk of Lifton having no doctors in four months’ time’.
Cllr Dr Sparrow said: “I have postponed my retirement and said I will stay for another year, possibly two.”
He added it is hoped the surgery will become part of Tavyside Health Centre, Tavistock, but as a separate branch.
Lifton Surgery was established in the early 1950s by Drs Charles and Mary Sutherland, who continued to work together until the early 1980s.
Following Dr Charles Sutherland’s death, Dr Mary Sutherland continued to practice single-handed until the advent of Dr Sparrow in 1988. She retired three years later.
Dr Robert Gardner joined the practice in 1992, and departed to pastures new in September 2002. Dr Jonathan Carty joined the practice in April 2006. Dr Sparrow and Dr Carty have been in partnership since then.
The surgery has its own dispensary, which means it can dispense medication to all patients who are registered with it and live more than one mile from a pharmacy.
Cllr Dr Sparrow said: “The only way to secure the future of the surgery is to join Tavistock — and I’m very comfortable about it.”
He later told the Post: “We are in the very early stages of figuring out all the details , so instead of retiring I will stay until everything is sorted.”
He said another option would be to employ another doctor, adding: “But the problem with that is if I then go that doctor wouldn’t be able to run the place because it takes too long to learn to do it.
“You can’t have a newly qualified GP walking into a practice like this and running it. You have got to have someone who is experienced and in it for the long haul.”
Cllr Dr Sparrow said that while he did not build the surgery, it had effectively doubled in size to serving 3,500 patients. He said: “I didn’t spend 28 years building something up for it to fall to bits after I have gone.
“There have been ups and downs over the years. I have thoroughly enjoyed my job. I just feel I owe the people I have looked after a secure future.”
Tavyside Health Centre manager Dene Medland said that when Dr Carty leaves, they would hope to get a GP there to cover the current session. Hopefully, that GP would be from Tavyside, but cover would also be needed at Tavistock.
Mrs Medland was keen for a surgery to continue at Lifton, adding: “That’s definitely our plan is to conserve continuity with the practice and that’s how we’ve become involved.”
The surgery would be run as a branch, but discussions are in the early stages at present. There would need to be a public consultation, and no decisions would be made until they received the go ahead from NHS England.
Under the proposal, if given the go ahead by NHS England, a spokesperson for NHS England South West said the two sites would remain open as usual, but run jointly.
The spokesperson added: “Mergers can be a good way of helping small practices share resources and balance clinical and administrative demands.
“We have received an application for Lifton Surgery and Tavyside Health Centre to join and are carefully considering if this is in the best interest of local patients.”