Woodstock Surgery

The Woodstock GP's surgery is not fit for purpose.  This has been acknowledged by the Integrated Care Board for Oxfordshire (an NHS body) and by the GPs themselves.  In June 2024, the GPs wrote to their patients to say that the the surgery was operating at full capacity and that there was no available space to accommodate additional staff.  Further housing development, they said, gives rise to an urgent and pressing challenge.

There are two key issues: where to locate a new surgery and how to fund it.  C-POW believes that Blenheim has been irresponsible in pushing ahead with new developments before the surgery problem has been resolved.  Many people in Woodstock consider that the site at the old Thames Valley Police station at Hensington Road could have been used for the provision of health facilities.  Yet Blenheim sold the site to McCarthy Stone (subject to planning permission being granted) for the development of 29 retirement flats.  That would add about 70 people to the population of Woodstock and would further strain the capacity of the existing surgery.   WODC refused planning permission for the retirement flats but McCarthy Stone has appealed against that decision to the Planning Inspectorate.  

C-POW also believes that Blenheim has not offered sufficient funds to finance a new surgery.  The s.106 contributions that they are required to make for the existing developments are not nearly enough.   We believe that the planning authority (West Oxfordshire District Council) needs to push for greater s.106 contributions.  We met with the local MP, Calum Miller, to discuss this issue and other issues about the new surgery.