Browse Sections

• Education
• James Chapman-Kelly
• Neil Roland
• Mancunian candidate
• Special reports

Doctors’ last ditch plea to Tesco boss over surgery

Susannah Wright
21/ 2/2008

ANGRY doctors have made a last ditch plea to the head of Tesco to honour a pledge to build them a new surgery.

Staff at the Kingsway Medical Practice in Burnage say time is running out for the supermarket giant to sign a contract for work to begin on the project - with the deadline due to expire in just 43 days.

Tesco agreed to build a new health centre on Burnage Lane as part of a deal that saw it granted planning permission for its 24-hour supermarket in the area in 2005.

But if no contract is signed before April 4, Tesco will instead have to pay a fine of £607,000 to the council - which could see patients left without a new medical centre.

Tesco has made repeated statements to the press that it intends to push ahead with the project, but doctors say they have had no response to two letters sent to the chain asking for a meeting to put plans in place.

Doctors from the centre have now written to the company’s chief executive officer, Sir Terry Leahy, calling on him to dispel growing fears that Tesco could walk away from their commitment.

The letter to Sir Terry says: "I have to write to you in total frustration that neither of our letters have even received the courtesy of a response from either one of your management team to whom they were also addressed.

"It is therefore hardly surprising that all these parties now increasingly feel that these inordinate delays and lack of written communication suggest that Tesco have no intention of building the ‘new modern state-of-the-art surgery for the community’ as promised back in June 2003 when you were enlisting support from our patients to your planning application for your Burnage store.

"I do trust that in your response you will totally dispel, for both ourselves and our patients, any perception that Tesco intended to walk away from their commitment to build the promised surgery under the terms of the agreement with Manchester City Council."

The medical practice is currently being run in a converted house on Kingsway. Two of the consulting rooms are upstairs, which are unsuitable for elderly and immobile patients.

A new surgery, due to be built on Burnage Lane, would have extra consulting rooms and nurses’ treatment rooms on the ground floor. It would allow for the practice to take on another doctor and more patients.

Dr Margaret Cant, one of the Medical Centre’s GPs, said that when the supermarket was applying for planning permission for the store, 600 residents petitioned the council to pass the application, on the grounds that a new surgery would be built. Last month, 800 of the practice’s patients signed a petition urging Tesco to make good on its pledge.

Dr Cant said: "We feel we have no other choice but to write directly to Terry Leahy. It seems extremely rude that Tesco hasn’t responded to our previous letters and it’s hard to know why they seem to be ignoring us. They keep saying to the media that they intend to build us a new surgery, but if so, why have we had no response from them."

"Time is of the essence now as we’re getting closer to the deadline, but still it seems that nothing is being done. We’re getting a rather jaundiced view of this, and we want some answers.

"It would be nice to see them stay true to their word."

Manchester Withington MP John Leech has urged Tesco to meet with doctors to put the plans in place before the deadline expires.

He said: "We know how important it is for people in the area to have this new surgery. There is no reason why Tesco should be dragging its heels on this issue."

A spokesman for the council confirmed that they had not heard anything from Tesco over the past few weeks.

A spokesman for Tesco said: "Our legal team are looking at the issue and we hope to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We anticipate being able to set up a meeting in the next couple of weeks."