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Dr Shaukat Nazeer |
Crossrail a ‘disaster’ for Mayfair GP
Health service doctor fears massive rail project will spell the end for his medical centre
THOUSANDS of patients could lose their family GP if Crossrail bosses refuse to divert the route away from Mayfair.
Dr Shaukat Nazeer, the only GP in Mayfair, based at Mayfair Medical Centre, has joined residents’ battle cry, predicting disaster for patients and his future livelihood. He fears many elderly patients could face a long journey to Pimlico or St John’s Wood just to see a GP.
Crossrail insists the £16billion project will not disrupt services at the centre in Weighhouse Street which has more than 2,500 registered users on its books.
Dr Nazeer, who has been at the centre for more than 10 years, said: “I worry we will have to close when the work starts. That would be my doctor-patient relationship gone with a lot of patients.
“I’ve been seeing some patients for as long as 10 years. Even if they move patients with me to somewhere temporary, it’s going to be an administrative nightmare.
“Elderly patients would no longer have a GP on their doorstep. We would need new computers, patient notes would be carted around – plus, who is going to pay for all this?
“It would be my livelihood that would suffer.
“Even if we don’t have to close, I won’t be able to function as a GP. We will have trucks coming up and down the road and heavy machinery operating day and night.
“I won’t be able to listen to a patient’s heartbeat with all the racket. Suddenly 30-minute consultations will last an hour because we will be shouting at each other just to be heard.”
Dr Nazeer’s centre also houses four private dentists and offers a range of specialist services including family planning, antenatal and mother and baby clinics.
Dr Nazeer became the only NHS doctor in Mayfair when Dr Gordon Atkinson retired from his Park Lane practice in February. He took on many of Dr Atkinson’s patients to save them a journey to surgeries in Marylebone and Fitzrovia.
Kirk Mitchell, from the Mayfair Residents’ Association, said the proposed Crossrail route would spell disaster for the surgery. He is heading a coalition of residents’ groups shaping up for a legal battle to block the legislation being pushed through the House of Lords.
“It would be absolutely unthinkable to have no NHS doctor in Mayfair,” said Mr Mitchell.
“The medical centre is used by a high proportion of elderly patients who count on having a doctor that they know nearby. Where will they go?
“Even if it isn’t closed I can’t see how there won’t be major problems? We have just lost our only other GP and the centre is booming with patients.
“To lose it would be desperate for the area that would be left with no GP surgery. It would be a huge loss to the community.”
Crossrail – a joint venture between the Department for Transport and Transport for London – claims the medical centre “will not be significantly affected”.
A Crossrail spokeswoman said: “The Mayfair Medical Centre is situated to the west of the site proposed to be the Crossrail Bond Street western ticket hall. Crossrail’s interest in this property is subsurface and it is not proposed to be demolished.
“As explained in response to the petition, the promoter is not taking any powers over the centre.
“The Environmental Statement does not predict that the centre will be significantly impacted or that it will need to be relocated.”
The Crossrail Bill is currently being considered by a select committee in the House of Lords with a view to work starting work in 2010.
It has received more than 100 petitions opposing the proposals.
The 74-mile route would run overland from Maidenhead to Paddington before going underground with central London stops at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street and Whitechapel.
The government is stumping up a third of the money, with the City of London and contributions from businesses making up the remainder in a complex funding jigsaw. |
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