Primary Healthcare Darlington celebrates 10 years of care

A NORTH East healthcare federation that has been providing frontline care to patients for years is celebrating its tenth birthday.

Primary Healthcare Darlington (PHD) was founded in October 2014 to help GP surgeries and medical practices enhance patient care in the County Durham town.

Dr Chris Mathieson, a director of PHD and managing partner at Neasham Road Surgery, said: “Ten years ago, in discussion with all the GP practices in town, we felt some services would be best placed being done at scale and at a central location, thus giving patients a better service and maintaining resilience to ever changing demands within each Practice.

“And so Primary Healthcare Darlington was born. We have grown tremendously over the last 10 years, going from a couple of rooms at Denmark Street Surgery to a dedicated base at Forsyth House on Woodland Road.

“We’re immensely proud of our close working relationship with the Darlington Primary Care Network, and of all the services that PHD provides and supports, including enhanced GP access, sexual health and contraception clinics, travel clinics, dressing clinics, social prescribing, pharmacy hubs, mental health and wellbeing support – and we hope to soon launch occupational health clinics!

“In an age when more and more health federations across the UK are declining and folding, it’s incredibly gratifying to see Darlington’s federation not just surviving, but truly thriving and delivering for patients across our area.”

Staff marked the occasion with a small get-together at PHD’s Woodland Road headquarters, inviting workers from across the town to raise a glass to the federation’s success.

Dr Mathieson also recalled the key role PHD played in leading Darlington’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, marshalling staff, volunteers, and retired healthcare workers to deliver the local vaccination programme.

He ended by paying tribute to the staff teams that make up the federation, saying: “Our success is entirely down to the dedication and passion of the excellent team we have. This federation, these services, and this outstanding level of care wouldn’t exist without them.”