Exclusive: Leading GP vanguard expands into third region

Modality Partnership, which leads the Birmingham multispecialty community provider vanguard, has taken on a GP practice based in Wokingham.

The move follows its expansion to Hull earlier this year and means the provider will be spread across five locations: Birmingham, Sandwell, Walsall, Hull and Wokingham.

The Wokingham Medical Centre, which has a patient list of 20,000, agreed to become a partner in Modality on 1 June.

This brings the provider’s coverage up to 190,000 patients across 27 different practices.

HSJ understands partners of the Wokingham Medical Centre will become partners in Modality, meaning the provider will have 68 partners in total.

In March, Modality took on four practices in Hull with a combined patient list size of 48,000.

Vipan Bhardwaj, a GP and lead for the new Wokingham division of Modality, said: “We want to make a real difference to primary care in Wokingham, and by joining with Modality Partnership we have an opportunity to transform care for our patients and be an employer of choice in the local area.

“The benefits in the medium to long term will include improved access and care for all of our patients and ultimately this move will create sustainable local GP services that are fit for the future.

“We are working with our staff to determine future changes and we are keen to hear from our patients and stakeholders. We will be inviting them to meet with us to discuss our plans in the coming weeks. We are hugely excited to have joined Modality Partnership and look forward to having a pivotal role in shaping the future of healthcare in this locality”

In May, Our Health Partnership, another large Birmingham based GP partnership, took on nine GP practices in Shropshire and it now covers 370,000 patients.