Epic scale of former Mayflower Medical Group GP redundancies now revealed
As many as 80 people including doctors, nurses and paramedics could lose their jobs at a group of five Plymouth GPs’ surgeries as the company which runs them battles financial problems and falling patient numbers.
A union representing workers at the former Mayflower Medical Group surgeries said it was concerned about the impact of imminent redundancies on staff and thousands of patients, some of whom are thought to be already in lengthy queues awaiting appointments.
MP Luke Pollard said the surgeries had been beset by problems for years and called for patients to receive “the service they deserve”. A worker at one of the surgeries, who said 500 people were awaiting appointments and 600 were waiting for blood tests, went further and said of the redundancies: “It’s disgusting what they are doing to the patients.”
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PlymouthLive has reported on how Fuller and Forbes Healthcare Group, which took over the five Mayflower surgeries this year, said it will be axing clinical and non-clinical staff but aims to keep the number of job losses “low”. But now it has emerged that as many as 153 workers are at risk and up to 80 individuals could be made redundant.
Documents seen by PlymouthLive say that Fuller and Forbes Healthcare wants to make 35% of the workforce redundant in a bid to save cash. Documents say it equates to about 42 to 44 full-time jobs, but because so many staff are not working full-time hours union bosses believe up to 80 people could be let go.
Fuller and Forbes Healthcare has said the cuts are necessary as it moves away from online, telephone, and remote consultations and towards more face-to-face appointments. PlymouthLive has contacted the group via NHS Devon for comment on the figures it has seen, but has yet to receive a reply from either.
Fuller and Forbes Healthcare was chosen to take over the surgeries at Stirling Road, Ernesettle Medical Centre, Mount Gould, Trelawny and Mannamead, with a combined 34,000 patients, from Livewell Southwest CIC in late 2023. It took full control with a 10-year contract starting on April 1 this year and began a redundancy consultation with staff the following day.
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The GMB union said this is still ongoing and collective meetings have only just concluded, with individual meetings with affected employees yet to begin. It is understood Unison, the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing are also involved.
A Fuller and Forbes document dated April 8, seen by PlymouthLive, said 165 employees were transferred when the company took over the five surgeries and of those 153 are at risk of redundancy. The document said: “To address the 69% overspend we propose to reduce the overall workforce by 35% or 42.42 wte (whole time equivalent) posts, based on suitable alternatives being from within the organisation.”
The group is offering voluntary redundancy and has some posts vacant which affected employees can apply for. A letter to employee reps, dated April 26, from Dr Mark Fuller and Methven Forbes, company directors, said: “We find ourselves in a challenging period that necessitates difficult decisions.”
It said that in March a “strategic realignment” was announced and there was a proposed reduction of 44.4 full-time-equivalent roles “which may equate to 60 potential redundancies from a pool of 152”. The GMB union has told PlymouthLive that up to 80 people could end up losing their jobs, including five doctors and nine paramedics. It is understood about 20 nurses on secondment have already left the group and up to eight locum doctors may have gone too, all outside of the redundancy process.
The GMB’s Paul Meddes said: “I’m very concerned for our members and the people that live in Plymouth. We have paramedics on maternity leave scared for their jobs.”
The documents seen by PlymouthLive reveal the reason Fuller and Forbes Healthcare is looking to cut jobs and costs is because the surgeries have been losing patients, and consequently cash. They say the business needs to establish “a financially sustainable practice” that falls within budget, and keeps hold of patients “by returning to a more traditional primary care model”.
The paperwork said current expenditure on employed staff is £5.5m and there is an overspend of £2.6m which equates to an extra £74.29 per patient a year. The practice has shrunk by about 5,352 patients during the past five years, worth about £624,000 in payments from the NHS to the practice.
In the first quarter of this year the practice lost another 312 patients and the document said: “If rate of patient loss continues it is the equivalent of having to lose around an additional £150,000 worth of staff each year, separate to this consultation process.”
It stressed: “Current situation is not sustainable.” And said: “The practice needs to achieve two key milestones, whilst maintaining a safe service: provide financial stability through the redundancy process; redesign the approach to patient care to prevent even more patients from leaving the practice.”
Prior to Fuller and Forbes Healthcare taking over the five Mayflower surgeries, Livewell had taken control of them in April 2022 when Devon Doctors decided not to renew a contract. While controlled by Devon Doctors, the Mayflower surgeries were rated “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission. During their time with Livewell this rating rose to “good”.
Mr Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said: "Patients at these practices deserve better than they have experienced for years. Services have improved recently but the new management must take their staff with them, and make sure that patients get the service they deserve, as they work to close the deficit. I have spoken with the new management and trade unions for the affected workers, and I will be following this closely until services are back on track."