First new GP surgery in Glasgow city centre in decades faces funding questions

The first GP surgery set to open in Glasgow city centre for decades has faced questions over how it is being funded.

The practice is to be based in a building within the Holland Park homes development on Holland Street and could accept up to 30,000 registered patients to serve a growing population.

Glasgow City Council has granted £200,000 towards fitting out the property with developer MODA to match that as well as Barclay Medical Practice, which will operate the facility.

Labour councillor Eunis Jassemi lodged an amendment looking for safeguards over the £200,000 public funding going towards the practice as well as other measures.

During the most recent city administration committee, he asked what precedent it would set for private developers seeking council subsidies over health infrastructure.

Councillor Angus Millar said: “This is a novel approach by the council to support the securing of a facility of this type through grant funding award.”

He said the council has long recognised the gap in social infrastructure needed to grow the city centre population.

The city centre recovery convenor added: “A lot of people are quite surprised when I tell them there is not an established GP practice within the city centre.”

He said the council is making a strategic intervention to fill a gap and has never got involved in supporting medical facilities in the past and would not propose to do so in the future.

The SNP councillor continued: “If we are able to say as a council that we have supported and helped secure the delivery of a city centre GP practice where there has been none for literally decades and decades and decades then that is a really positive thing for us to do as we support the growth of the city centre.”

Moving the amendment, councillor Jassemi said he doesn’t oppose the deal but wants to ensure proper scrutiny and gain an understanding of the wider implications.

He said: “We are being asked to provide £200,000 of public funding linked to infrastructure with a major private development.”

The amendment sought reports back on safeguards and clawback provisions attached to the public grant and staffing needs of the new practice among other queries.

Rejecting the amendment councillor Millar said: ” I’m not minded to accept it,” pointing out clawback and safeguarding is part of any standard grant agreement from the council.

The amendment was rejected by the majority of councillors.

Councillors approved paying £200,000 to MODA Group for assisting in the fit out of the practice.

Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Jassemi said: “It is staggering that SNP, Green and Conservative councillors voted against scrutiny measures linked to £200,000 of taxpayers’ money.

“Labour supported expanding GP provision in the city centre. What we asked for was entirely reasonable — proper safeguards around public funding, transparency on future GP capacity and staffing pressures, and serious long-term planning to stop the same infrastructure failures happening again as the city centre continues to grow.”

Barclay Medical Practice currently operates a surgery on St George’s Road, but the size of the premises means the level of health services provided are restricted and registered patients are limited to less than 9000.

Plans for the new surgery have been approved by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and will triple the clinical capacity of Barclay Medical Practice’s St George’s Road surgery while also greatly expanding the healthcare support that’s available.