We have been shabbily treated

We have been with Clarendon Lodge for almost 35 years now, more than 30 of which have been spent in Radford Semele. I also know that this decision has caused considerable distress to several other Radford Semele residents. In initial enquiries to the surgery we were told that an influx of students registering at the practice had caused a problem with the number of patients - surely long term patients should be given preference over short term visitors to the town? To add insult to injury we have received a second letter, this time from a Mrs SE Price on behalf of NHS Warwickshire who fails in the basic courtesy of supplying return contact information in her letter, who tells us that ‘the practice has decided that they are no longer able to provide a full and safe service for some patients who are resident outside their practice area.’. So it now seems it is a ‘safety’ issue and it affects only some patients but not all? In all this it seems we have no choice but to move and have no route to appeal. We do feel that we have been rather shabbily treated by Clarendon Lodge and like the lady you interviewed would not wish to return there if we were to move back into the catchment area. On a more positive note at least our new surgery uses a 01926 phone number to make appointments rather than the 0844 number used by Clarendon Lodge saving us about 50p per call!

John Gilchrist

Hamilton Road,
Radford Semele