Important patient information – Brockwell move

We are very pleased to be able to give you an update in relation to moving to Brockwell’s new GP surgery, which will be located on the ground floor of the Northumbria Health and Care Academy.

As you will be aware, Valens Medical Partnership, became part of Northumbria Primary Care (NPC) from 1 January 2024.

In response to this, and as we are moving from the Brockwell Centre, we have renamed our practice NPC Northumbria Way.

Patients will access their care from the new surgery from Monday 3 June 2024. If you have an appointment on this day or after this date, you do not need to do anything. Your appointment will be transferred to our new site. Please note the existing Brockwell site will be closed, and patients will not be able to access it from this date.

The new surgery address is Unit 2, Northumbria Health and Care Academy, Northumbria Way, Cramlington, NE23 6NZ. Please note, that although our new GP practice is on the grounds of the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the services are totally separate, as they always have been.

The way you contact the practice online will not change and our telephone number and practice opening times will also remain the same. You will see the same clinicians that you do now.

On arrival at our new practice, which meets all accessibility standards, you will be able to park for free for 40 minutes. Access to the car park is via a barrier and you will get a ticket. If your appointment is going to last longer than 40 minutes, our reception team will validate the ticket for you.

The appointment self-check-in process will be the same as it is now, and it is really important that you do this on arrival.

The key concern that was highlighted by patients as part of the engagement process in relation to this practice move, was around transport.

We are pleased to be able to confirm that patients who don’t have access to their own transport and who will struggle to get to the practice will be able to arrange transport via a partnership we have set up with Age UK. Patients need to book this service via the reception team.

We are very excited about and proud of our new GP practice. The space is modern, bright, welcoming, fit for modern-day healthcare and a lovely environment for both patients and our staff.

The waiting area is spacious and comfortable and there are private areas for you to have confidential conversations in the reception area. This is something that patients highlighted as being important. There is also an interactive play area for children, to keep them occupied while waiting, and an area to park pushchairs.

There is a pharmacy right next to our new surgery and it is hoped that this will be open from Monday 3 June too. If not, it will be open soon after this date.

A huge amount of thought has gone into the design of our NPC Northumbria Way practice to ensure a positive patient and staff experience.

As we now have additional space, and as planned, we hope to be able to work in partnership with a range of agencies so that our patients can also access community services from the site. This is important as we focus on providing more holistic care for our patients. We will keep you updated as this progresses.

There will also be a self-assessment room where patients can carry out their own health checks, including weight and blood pressure.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust owns the current Brockwell surgery building and it is planned that their community team will use the space going forward.

The Northumbria Health and Care Academy building is owned by the trust and they will operate the second and third floor of the building. The first floor is a nursing, midwifery and allied health professional education facility and the top floor is a private space with meeting rooms and conference facilities.

I am sure you will appreciate that it will take our team a few weeks to get used to the new space, but we know they are looking forward to working in their new surgery.

We very much look forward to welcoming our patients to our new GP practice. If you have any questions, please email nencicb-nor.valensmedical@nhs.net.