According to the head of primary care for OCCG (Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group), the Bradley Arcade GP Surgery in Prescott Avenue, Bretch Hill, Banbury will close permanently from October.  Labour Banbury Ruscote Councillors Mark Cherry, Sean Woodcock and Barry Richards, and Banbury Town Councillor Gordon Ross had all lobbied to avoid this outcome, and expressed great disappointment.

Councillor Cherry said,  “As a patient of the Windrush surgery at West Bar I received a text that the Bradley Arcade surgery was proposed for closure and a consultation was to be moved forwards. I have to say I was shocked and immediately informed Ruscote ward councillors of the news.”

Mark contacted local press and officers at the joint health and scrutiny committee to put the issue on the agenda, and looked for a cross party response with Councillor Andrew McHugh, Lead Member for Health and Wellbeing. The councillors also liased with Banbury Labour Health Matters chairwoman Sue Edgar. The closure was raised by Mark at the Oxfordshire Health Oversight and Scrutiny Committee.

A secondary GP practice was interested in taking in Bradley Arcade, but talks broke down.

Unfortunately, the closure of Bradley Arcade GP Surgery was rubber stamped by Oxfordshire CCG towards the end of July.

“This is a terrible decision,” said Councillor Woodcock. “Already people in Ruscote live on average seven years less than people in Deddington, less than seven miles away. Existing health inequalities like this will only be exacerbated with access to primary care made more difficult like this.”

Mark commented, “This is a blow to the local community in Ruscote. The ward is second in ten of the most deprived wards in Oxfordshire. As a ward councillors for Ruscote we are really disappointed in the retrograde step to close Bradley Arcade. This will be a loss of general practitioner services in the heart of the Bretch Hill community. I want to extend my gratitude to Councillor Sean Woodcock, Councillor Barry Richards, Banbury Town Councillor Gordon Ross and Sue Edgar.  Residents of Banbury Ruscote will note that together we fought a short intensive media campaign with the Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee to try save the Bradley Arcade practice surgery. Under the Lib Dem and Conservative, then Conservative governments, general practitioner recruitment and training has fallen and GPs have retired without replacement.  The  amalgamation of general practice surgeries into super practices seen in places like Banbury and across Oxfordshire will likely be seen more and more in the coming years.”