Peace talks failure at troubled Bishop's Castle practice
Health chiefs have failed three times in an attempt to broker a deal to end a long-running dispute between doctors at a troubled medical practice in a town in Shropshire, it has been revealed.
Officials at Shropshire County Primary Care Trust and Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have been unable to resolve the problems between the GPs at Bishop's Castle Medical Practice.
Dr Adrian Penney and his partners Dr Adrian Fairbanks and Dr Susan Lambert have been in dispute for almost two years.
But officials have said they cannot directly intervene in a 'business dispute' unless the quality of care provided to the community drops below acceptable standards. They said they had tried to broker a deal three times, but without success.
About 300 residents of the town and surrounding villages attended a meeting called by the PCT and CCG at Bishop's Castle Community College last night.
But they still remain in the dark over the reasons for the dispute – which has been running for almost two years – after those holding the meeting said they could not go into specific details.
Last week it was revealed the dispute will be resolved in the High Court.
The meeting was called after hundreds of residents sent letters to health chiefs asking them to intervene to secure the future of the practice.
Speaking at the meeting Dr Ken Deacon, medical director at the PCT, said: "We cannot intervene in a business dispute between partners as long as they maintain their contract to provide quality care to the local community.
"There is the potential for standards to slip when doctors have other things on their mind. But we have visited the surgery several times during the last 18 months and we have no reason to believe that there are any problems with the service being provided."
