Merger of Balmoral Red suite with Churchill Clinic

1st April 202316th February 2024

On Monday 24^th April 2023 Balmoral Red Suite will become a branch surgery and Churchill Clinic will be the main practice. As there are multiple sites in the Healthy Living Centre Balmoral Red Suite will now be known as Churchill Medical Group (CMG) Red Suite. Both practices are run by Dr Hannah Newens and her team, and all come under the umbrella of the Churchill Medical Group.

We are committed to ensuring that continuity of care is retained for patients with on-going health care issues as we know that this is important to you, and good for patient care.

As a practice, we have a commitment to ensure we meet the needs of the local community and listen to the views of our patients.

Due to the merger, Balmoral Red Suite Practice is looking to combine the computer system with Churchill Clinic.

The main reason for the merger is purely from an administrative point of view. Currently receptionists have to run multiple computer systems alongside each other, which is proving more and more difficult. Having one system will enable the practices to run far more efficiently and to communicate with clinicians across both sites easily. Patients will be able to access services at both sites. All patients will have the ability to see the same clinicians and have access to the extended teams available to us.

Patients will see no change to the service, other than being able to deal with your queries quicker.

This change will result in a small amount of disruption where the Balmoral Red Suite Practice system will be offline from Friday 21^st April. The change is scheduled to be completed by Monday 24^th April.

Every effort is being made to keep disruption to a minimum. The practice would kindly request that non-urgent queries are not directed to the practice during this time. The practice will be open as usual but will not be able to manage all usual services with no access to computer systems.

In addition:

Due to the system merge, all patients registered at Balmoral will be now registered under the name of Churchill Medical Group and if they visit a hospital or and OOH service they will need to inform them of this name change, so we receive all correspondence.

Online Service User Access: Balmoral Apps will be switched off from 12^th April 2023. Online services at Balmoral Red Suite will be switched off ahead of the merger of IT systems. If you try to use your normal Apps i.e. NHS Apps, MY GP etc during this time, they will not work and will give an error code that starts 3c. Please do not contact your practice about this error, as the patient transfer will be in progress.

After the merge on the 24^th April 2023 online service access for transferred patients will not be immediately available and may take until the end of the month to set up. Your practice will test you when the apps are ready to be reused. Please give the practice until mid-June 2023 to instruct you on how to access your app.

Please contact us by emailing churchill.admin@nhs.net or calling 01634 842397 if you have any questions or queries.

Churchill and Balmoral Red Suite Computer Merger FAQs

Will I still be able to book an appointment at my normal practice?

Yes – you will also be able to book at either site if you want to.

Will the computer merger affect availability of appointments?

The number of appointments will not reduce after the merger.

What is the merging the computer systems?

Staff will only have to use one system to access patient records for both sites.
Staff will be able to communicate to clinicians and the wider team quickly and efficiently.
Patients will have access to the same services and staff at both sites.
Patients can be seen at either site if they want to.

What if I need a home visit?

There will be no changes to our home visiting policy.

What are the practice addresses and what is the distance between them?

Balmoral Red Suite – Balmoral Healthy Living Centre, Gillingham ME7 4PN
Churchill Clinic – 94 Churchill Avenue, Chatham, ME5 0DL

Distance between the two practices is 3 miles which is 10 minutes in a car.

Will I still be able to order my prescription online or through my mobile app?

There will be no change to the users of Churchill Clinic. The online and app services will be switched off on the 12^th April 2023 for Balmoral Red Suite patients. During this transition period we will ensure you receive your medication. The patients impacted will be given a link to create a new log on. Patients will be contacted by the practice so you do not need to do anything until you receive the link.

Will I be able to use GP online services?

There will be no change to the users of Churchill Clinic. Balmoral Red Suite patients will be given a link to create a new log on. Patients will be contacted by the practice so you do not need to do anything until you receive the link.