Plans for temporary GP base after surgery closes

Plans have been drawn up to convert a community centre into a temporary doctors' surgery following the closure of a GP practice.

Patients currently have to travel outside of the east Leeds village of Scholes after Scholes Surgery, on Main Street, closed in April.

A campaign was launched to keep providing GP services in the village and ward councillors worked to find a solution.

The Manor House Community Centre on Belle Vue Road will be used by GPs for three years if planning permission is secured.

Councillor Ryan Stephenson said: "Scholes is a village with an increasingly older population, so we knew it would be important to find a local solution to retain a GP surgery in the locality."

He said the council-owned Manor House, which is occasionally used as a community centre, was the "only viable option" for the service.

A spokesperson for the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) said a consultation had been launched on the possible use of the Manor House.

They said: "Options for a temporary solution for patients in Scholes are being explored until longer term arrangements to support residents are put in place.

"Any decision to proceed will be made based on the outcome of the consultation and engagement activities and subject to the appropriate planning approval."

Current users of the Manor House building were among those being consulted, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

NHS bosses said the landlord of the former surgery gave notice of their intention to sell the building before it closed last month.

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