Villa Collonnade

[Pat Ayres]

Shops, please.

 

These shops are individual and unique to Douglas.

 

You've obviously never visited Brighton, nearly identical situation, long collonade of pillars of victrorian design,, loads of tourists and fulll of crap. Hardly unique. Tidy them up and make them more inviting, spend some money on them.

Now, if you put a NHS dentist there, open to allcomers, as well it might be a good idea

[Alex]

So what's wrong with the old Hospital for a medical centre? It has one already, plus a very good NHS dentist surgery already and there's bags of room left.

[chebobs]

So what's wrong with the old Hospital for a medical centre? It has one already, plus a very good NHS dentist surgery already and there's bags of room left.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

ROFLOL..... MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!!!!!

 

 

Something wrong with our leaders... fooking useless

[momo65]

So what's wrong with the old Hospital for a medical centre? It has one already, plus a very good NHS dentist surgery already and there's bags of room left.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

ROFLOL..... MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!!!!!

 

 

Something wrong with our leaders... fooking useless

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That practice servers the people of lower Douglas. The other practices serve upper Douglas

 

If you feel that all the GPs in the town should be in one place then your suggestion is reasonable. However, most people prefer practices that are local to them. The majority of patients walk to their appointment at that practice - many because they don't have transport - and many of them are amongst the most disadvantaged in the island. So, moving the practice to the old hospital will further disadvantage them, and almost certainly increase the amount of traffic up to the hospital site

[Alex]

It is to replace the premises on Loch Prom which already provides GP services to the majority of the tourists who come to Douglas. The premises are truely awful and what impression of the island it must give to those visitors can only be guessed at.

That practice servers the people of lower Douglas. The other practices serve upper Douglas

However, most people prefer practices that are local to them. The majority of patients walk to their appointment at that practice - many because they don't have transport - and many of them are amongst the most disadvantaged in the island.

 

Is this new practise to be for tourists or the people of Douglas? Either way the walk to the old hospital site from the Douglas prom surgery must be about ten minutes. For most Douglas residents the central old hospital site is actually much closer to their homes than the Villa Marina site.

 

As for the majority of patients walking to their appointments, has there been a survery conducted or is this mere guesswork? Same question with the "most disadvantaged on the Island" comment.

 

and almost certainly increase the amount of traffic up to the hospital site

As an entire hospital worth of traffic has recently ceased in that area I hardly think a small medical centre opening there will cause too many traffic problems.

 

Even if your above arguments were valid in this case, this talk about traffic problems and the poor disadvantaged people counted for nothing when the Island's main hospital was moved right out of town.

[steven !]

Shopmobility on the 2nd level that juts out on Chester Street car park above the supermarket. That would be ok for a medical practice.

 

Anyway, about the Villa Collonnade. You can tell the economy is good because there is a 50p piece winged into the polystyrene coving near where the taxis park. Usually it's just 2p pieces.

 

I'll wait until there is enough for a couple of pints and I will go picking all the coins out to save the Corpy doing it and then go down the Waterloo.

 

Apparently it is like a modern wishing well, where you make a wish and chuck a coin. If it sticks in your wish comes true!

 

So what would you wish if your coin lodged good and proper in the coving?

[Dave the Cardboard Box]

[

 

 

However, most people prefer practices that are local to them. The majority of patients walk to their appointment at that practice - many because they don't have transport - and many of them are amongst the most disadvantaged in the island.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That is exactly how half the population of Onchan felt, then they lost their surgery and now they have to go down to the old Hospital site.

 

Surely that is a much greater inconvenience than tourists walking a few hundred yards up from the Prom to the old Nobles, or some nearby lower Douglas site. and it affects two thousand people or so.

[momo65]

Is this new practise to be for tourists or the people of Douglas? Either way the walk to the old hospital site from the Douglas prom surgery must be about ten minutes. For most Douglas residents the central old hospital site is actually much closer to their homes than the Villa Marina site.

 

As for the majority of patients walking to their appointments, has there been a survery conducted or is this mere guesswork? Same question with the "most disadvantaged on the Island" comment.

 

Even if your above arguments were valid in this case, this talk about traffic problems and the poor disadvantaged people counted for nothing when the Island's main hospital was moved right out of town.

 

Alex,

 

1. As you will see from the rest of the thread this is not a new practice but a replacement site for the practice on Loch Prom

2. The patients registered with that practice are mostly from the Promenade area and Lower Douglas, so walking to the hospital would be further - not mention uphill

3. There is no guesswork in relation to the comment about how people get to that surgery - a survey has indeed been carried out

4. You will note what I actually said was that these patients were AMONG the most disadvantaged. There are a number of markers commonly used in health service circles which are used as markers for deprivation - amongst these include %age smokers, teenage pregnancy, use of English as a foreign language, drug and alcohol abuse. Figures for those makers show the patients of that practice have higher levels of problems than most

5. Your comment about the move of the hospital sounds an interesting variant on the forum gambit of "two wrongs make a right" and seems to add little to the force of your argument

 

Shopmobility on the 2nd level that juts out on Chester Street car park above the supermarket. That would be ok for a medical practice.

 

Steven,

 

for reasons already discussed - it wouldn't be OK for a medical practice - there is a very comprehensive set of guidance from the UK DoH - which the IoM follows as best practice - and that particular location scores very poorly

 

That is exactly how half the population of Onchan felt, then they lost their surgery and now they have to go down to the old Hospital site.

 

Dave,

 

1. The decision to close the branch surgery in Onchan was taken by the practice concerned

2. The people of Onchan still have a practice in nice new premises and thus have the choice to register there or travel

3. Does the fact that folk in Onchan lost a facility mean that it's a good idea for others to do so? I would have thought that it would have meant they would have supported any move to keep a surgery local to it's users.

[Lonan3]

Judging from momo65's replies it would appear that there is an absolute determination to use the site at the Villa Marina, despite the fact that no one - other than the members of the practise itself - want it there, that there is no car parking available, that being beneath the colonnade rather defeats the arguments about the need for adequate daylight, or that it remains an ideal site for retail outlets. Someone has obviously decided that, on a Promenade that's the best part of three miles long, there is only one place that can possibly house it!

[momo65]

[quote name='Lonan3' date='Sep 22 2005, 08:12 Someone has obviously decided that,!

 

1. For the record I am not an employee of the practice and nor am I in a position to make decisions

2. The proposal for use of the villa marina didn't come from the practice

3. The practice has maintained silence about the issue

4. There have been seripus attempts to find alternative accomodation for more than 5 years but most of these have failed because developers get more return on flats

5. This proposal is merely the latest in a long line - but when viewed purely from the point of view of a medical practice is one of the better ones

6. The plans included ways to get natural light in

7. There is no parking for the practice at present - so there would be no change there

[slinkydevil]

Well they didn't go for it:

 

src: Manx Radio Web Site

 

A search is underway to find new premises for a Douglas GPs surgery - after ministers abandoned plans to house it in the Villa Marina Arcade.

 

Tenants of the arcade tourist shops - who may still face eviction - raised a 6,000 signature petition against the controversial move.

 

It now means the Promenade Medical Centre must find a new, central location from which to serve its 4,000 patients.

 

The arcade's landlord the Department of Tourism and Leisure will now have to re-think its development plans for the area.

 

Proprietor of Marina Gifts, Fred Hogg, welcomes the U-turn

[momo65]

Well they didn't go for it:

 

True, but it will be interesting to see what happens if the practice, with 4000 patients (at least 2000 voters) starts to point out to those patients which MHKs didn't support their cause. Experience in the UK suggest that when such things happen, MPs with majorities in the thousands can lose their seats - never mind MHKs with majorities of a couple of hundred!

[nipper]

Indeed, we shall see.

 

But equally, there were many eligible voters (hundreds?) who signed the petition in support of the shops.

 

momo, you have put some good points forward and argued your case well. But you see the matter from one side only, whereas many who have put a view forward on the forum have been a little less partial.

 

I hope the Promenade Medical Centre finds a suitable home.

 

Maybe the MHKs who were 'against' you on this one will manage to support your quest in the future. You have some publicity just now - so keep the ball rolling. No one is against you per se, just on the matter of the Collonnade.

 

Good luck.

[momo65]

Maybe the MHKs who were 'against' you on this one will manage to support your quest in the future. You have

Good luck.

 

As you will see from earlier in the thread I am neither a partner in the practice nor an employee of the practice - but I do have experience at senior level in NHS management elsewhere. So said MHKs were not "against" me in any way.

 

In most places in the UK those premises would have been closed down years ago and it is a disgrace that both locals and tourists have to be treated in such premises.

[ButterflyMaiden]

In most places in the UK those premises would have been closed down years ago and it is a disgrace that both locals and tourists have to be treated in such premises.

 

To be fair, the Island seems determined to provide a rolls royce health service given the finite resources it has at its disposal. One cant help but be impressed by some of the GP premises on the the Island and, importantly, there does seem to be a continuing policy of improvement and renewal.

 

There are still some shabby GP premises in the UK. Many GPs continue to operate from converted shops which are quite unsuitable for the role, and while these are becoming fewer and rarer each year, they still exist.

 

I would like to think, given time, all GPs on the Island, and in the Uk, will operate from suitable premises.

 

I wonder, out of curiosity, if any of the empty premises in the lane which runs behind the shopping street , near the DHSS offices, would meet the criteria for redevelopment as a GP surgery / medical centre ? The area is on the level, close to the existing premises, and there is access for staff and patient parking, either in the pay and display parks or in at least one of the properties ..which has a courtyard.