Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf refuses to halt Old Aberdeen Medical Practice management shake-up

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf refused to step into the row over the management of Old Aberdeen Medical Practice when pressed by north-east Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba at General Questions. Picture by Chris Donnan/DCT Media.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf refused to step into the row over the management of Old Aberdeen Medical Practice when pressed by north-east Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba at General Questions. Picture by Chris Donnan/DCT Media.

The health secretary has refused to halt a controversial management shake-up at a Granite City GP’s surgery.

At Holyrood this afternoon, Humza Yousaf was asked to press pause on permanent change at Old Aberdeen Medical Practice, which was rocked by a mass walkout last winter.

North-east Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba wants a full, independent review of the changes introduced – which led to all nine GPs quitting the Sunnybank Road centre.

Departing medics revealed frustrations at the staff consultation, as well as concerns for patient care, as it was revealed a private firm would take over.

Old Aberdeen was one of only six practices run by NHS Grampian and Aberdeen City Health And Social Care Partnership (ACHSCP), while all others are run by companies contracted by the authorities.

It was a move met with fierce opposition in Old Aberdeen, with loyal patients and doctors arguing its unique, mainly student, patient list should mean an exception could be made.

Health secretary yet to meet with Old Aberdeen campaigners

The health secretary previously told MSPs he would “consider” meeting campaigners concerned about Old Aberdeen.

But last month, he claimed he was “unavailable” as he “focussed on the response to Omicron and accelerating the booster campaign”.

Mr Yousaf said he would be “happy to touch base” after the immediate pressures were over – but a final decision on the future running of Old Aberdeen is expected by the end of this month.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf refused to halt change in management at Old Aberdeen Medical Practice. Picture by Jane Barlow/PA.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf refused to halt change in management at Old Aberdeen Medical Practice. Picture by Jane Barlow/PA.

In parliament, Ms Villalba urged him to intervene directly.

“I recognise that you have raised this issue on a number of occasions and I know other members have got concerns – understandably so,” he told the north-east MSP in response.

“But I would not be asking ACHSCP to pause the tendering process because that would be doing exactly what I don’t want to, which is intervening in local decision making.

“I know the recent tendering has placed the needs of patients and the local community front and centre, for a more sustainable model of GP practice going forward.”

North-east MSP makes case for full, independent review of Old Aberdeen management shake-up

Mr Yousaf did agree to raise some issues from the probe with Grampian health chiefs.

He will flag complaints about staff consultation at Old Aberdeen, that necessary assessments were not carried out and about how ACHSCP deals with complaints.

However, the external investigator did not have the power to look into claims that senior partnership officials had conflicting interests in the tendering out of practices.

A government spokeswoman later said it was for the HSCP to determine how GP services should be run in Aberdeen.

Ms Villalba claims only a full independent review of the process will restore confidence in health services in the city.

North-east Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba pressed the health secretary to intervene at Old Aberdeen Medical Practice, after Humza Yousaf confirmed he was yet to meet campaigners.
North-east Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba pressed the health secretary to intervene at Old Aberdeen Medical Practice, after Humza Yousaf confirmed he was yet to meet GPs and campaigners.

She added: “The health secretary appears unwilling to intervene to protect popular, effective and publicly-run medical practices like Old Aberdeen.

“There are still questions which remained unanswered about how the tendering process was conducted.

“I believe the process must now be halted to enable a full independent review to take place.”

D-Day on Old Aberdeen management looms

In 2020, city health chiefs developed the plans for Old Aberdeen, Camphill, Carden, Marywell, Torry and Whinhill, claiming it would make them more sustainable.

A decision on that Old Aberdeen GP's practice could be taken by the end of this month. Picture by Ben Hendry/DCT Media.
A decision on the management of Old Aberdeen Medical Practice could be taken by the end of this month. Picture by Ben Hendry/DCT Media.

Newburn Healthcare, which already runs Denburn and Mastrick GP practices, was drafted in to provide emergency relief at Old Aberdeen.

In late November, the doctors who quit offered to return to the practice – if the tendering for new management was abandoned.

Health chiefs stood firm, announcing no change of heart.

Elsewhere, the claims of bolstered sustainability have been tested too.

In December, Aberdeen Journals revealed 8,600 patients at another of the six soon-to-be rejigged medical centres –  Carden – were to be transferred elsewhere at the end of this month.

Authorities had been unable to hire enough staff to “sustainably or safely” run it.

A spokeswoman for the ACHSCP said: “Last year the partnership commissioned an independent investigation into the complaints raised by the campaigners, the high level outcomes from the investigation were reported back to the Integration Joint Board (IJB) in March 2021.

“Any actions associated with the investigation have now been closed off by the IJB.”