Exclusive A good-rated GP practice at risk of having no premises from October was ‘shell-shocked’ at being advised by its ICB it could ‘hand back the contract’.
Another option suggested was to work from a range of different other practices while awaiting new premises.
St James Medical Practice in Walthamstow, run by a father and daughter, has been waiting years for new premises as part of a redevelopment project which has been repeatedly delayed.
GP partner Dr Shalini Kawar told Pulse that North East London ICB has not kept her ‘in the loop in a proper way’ and the only options they have been given are ‘massively unfair’ to the more than 15,500 patients and 40 staff.
Talks for the redevelopment project, overseen by Waltham Forest Council, began before the pandemic, with plans to move the GP practice out of its current 1950s premises which has had ‘lots of issues’ with leaks, heating and electrics.
Since then, the new building has been constructed and private tenants have moved into flats, however the ground and first floors – intended for phlebotomy and the GP surgery – have not been completed.
Waltham Forest Council told Pulse that they will ‘fit-out’ the new facility for ‘early 2026’, but in the meantime St James’ current lease will expire on 25 October and the landlord currently has no plans to extend it.
Dr Kawar said that over the last six months, her usual monthly meetings with the ICB and the council have been repeatedly ‘stood down’ at the ‘last minute’, leaving her and her father in the dark about progress to the building.
After the patient participation group raised ‘serious concerns’ about the practice’s future premises, Dr Kawar asked the ICB for an update, at which point she was called into a ‘last minute meeting with an hour’s notice’.
The ICB told the GP partners that the development had ‘hit quite a lot of delays’ and they would not have a ‘premises to move into on 25 October’.
She continued: ‘Then the ICB put to us various options, which were: a) to consider merging with another practice; b) split into multiple sort of smaller practices or parts and operate from other sites; or, the third option the ICB said was “you can hand back your contract”.
‘Obviously this took me and my father by surprise. We thought that actually none of this was our fault, we’re a good practice, our most recent CQC inspections have all been good.
‘Everything we do, we try our best with, and this just seemed like none of the options were viable to us or made any sense.’
Dr Kawar said the suggestion that they hand back their contract left them ‘shell-shocked’.
Since then, the ICB has been pushing the landlord for a six-month extension to the current lease, after which the practice would have to operate in a ‘fragmented’ way across multiple practices.
‘Following the end of the lease in April, the ICB wants us to use one site that they have identified as a potential hub site for reception and admin, and maybe a couple of clinical rooms, and then we have to just go around chatting to local practices to see what clinical space we can occupy in their buildings, which is just going to be a logistical nightmare.’
Dr Kawar told Pulse this would ‘seriously impact staff morale’ but also ‘continuity of care’ for patients, as they would be expected to travel to different sites from ‘one week to the next’.
Ultimately, Dr Kawar said she feels the ICB ‘has been to blame in this whole process’ as they have ‘not done enough quickly enough’ and have provided the partners with ‘very little options and very little time to make any plans’.
She said: ‘They had basically a year, and nothing’s happened there, and I don’t really know why. Now to say that we only have 10 weeks or so before you might come into work one day and find the locks have been changed. Well, they’ve had months knowing that this is the case. So why didn’t they start getting their act together?’
Councillor Ahsan Khan, deputy leader and cabinet member for housing at Waltham Forest Council, said the new development – named the Jazz Yard – has created 83 new homes, half of which are ‘affordable’, and includes a ‘bespoke space for a new health centre for local people’.
‘We have been proactive in creating this much-needed facility as part of our mission to make the borough a great place to live and age well,’ he said.
Mr Khan continued: ‘We are having weekly high-level conversations with NHS North East London to finalise the lease and enable the move of the St James practice to its new premises. We will fit-out this new facility for early 2026 so it can benefit patients for many years to come.
‘We are doing everything we can to get the best outcome for residents. We are in regular dialogue with the freeholder of the St James practice site, Aitch Group, and NHS North East London, who are the leaseholders, to ensure the infrastructure is in place to best serve the needs of local people.’
North East London ICB said the planned relocation of St James Medical Practice to the Jazz Yard development ‘offers an exciting opportunity to deliver services from new purpose-built premises which will improve both patient and staff experience’.
A spokesperson continued: ‘We are working closely with partners to finalise the lease and enable the move of the St James practice to its new premises.
‘We are continuing to work closely with the practice to ensure that any disruption is kept to a minimum and to offer support, including the provision of resilience funding.
‘Our priority is ensuring that all patients at St James Medical Practice have ongoing access to primary care services.’
Earlier this year, Pulse reported on a practice facing ‘imminent’ closure due to an eight-year long rent dispute.
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Is this just a ‘spelling’ error, in that they mean to have it ready by early 2025, but said 2026 by accident?
Why would it take 18 months to get the space ‘fitted out’?
It should be possible within about 3 months, unless someone is holding up agreement for some reason at the NHS ICB level?
Nothing new hear. Why would any icb care about the doctors ? After all patients are able to just manage without a practice so why care about the one providing care?