Changes at Eltham Palace GP Surgery
UPDATE: August 2026
A decision to close Eltham Palace Surgery was made by the Healthier Greenwich Partnership on Thursday 23 July 2026, following the Care Quality Commission’s cancellation of the Eltham Palace Surgery GP partners’ legal authority to operate as a GP practice. Patient views were considered as part of the decision-making process.
Patients have been receiving letters since in mid August informing them of the steps they need to take.
NHS South East London engaged with patients and carers through a survey (on-line and printed copies were available at the surgery) and holding a face to face and an on-line engagement meeting as part of looking at the options for the future of the surgery.
You can read the report of the survey findings here.
You can read the report of the two patient engagement events and feedback received here.
Why were changes needed?
On 19 March 2026, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) cancelled the Eltham Palace Surgery GP partners’ legal authority to run Eltham Palace Surgery.
Since then, Eltham Medical Practice has been providing services to patients via a temporary ‘caretaking’ arrangement.
Eltham Palace Surgery remains open and appointments, prescriptions and other services continue to be available to registered patients in the normal way.
NHS South East London Integrated care Board (ICB), which plans health and care services in Greenwich and South East London, had to look at longer term options and, as part of this, we wanted to understand and consider patient views. The two options were
- Appointing a new organisation to provide general practice services at Eltham Palace Surgery
- Asking patients to re-register with another local practice
- Appointing a new organisation
GP practices are independent organisations that hold a contract with the NHS to provide GP services for patients.
NHS South East London ICB is required to run an open and transparent process when appointing a new provider of general practice services, taking account of what is viable and what is in patients’ best interests.
This process can take around 9–12 months.
The number of patients registered with a GP practice is an important consideration when making a decision about the future.
Practices with fewer than 12,000 registered patients are often less likely to attract interest from potential providers of GP services.
The current size of the Eltham Palace Surgery registered patient list is approximately 5,000 patients.
Continuing with the current short-term arrangements beyond the agreed period is unlikely to be a long-term solution because patients need a stable service to support safe, consistent care and continuity of care.
2. Asking patients to re-register with other general practices
As well as exploring whether a new GP provider can be appointed, NHS South East London ICB is also considering asking patients to re-register with another local GP practice before the current arrangements end.
This would help to make sure patients can continue to access safe and reliable GP care.
Our priority is to make sure all patients can continue to access safe and reliable GP care.
To help inform our decision, we worked with local GP practices to understand whether they have enough capacity to register and provide care to new patients.
If a decision is made to move patients to other local GP practices, you will be able to choose a local GP practice to re-register with.
If we decide on this option, we will write to you again with details about the closure of Eltham Palace Surgery, with details of other local practices which are registering new patients.
If you are still registered with Eltham Palace Surgery at the time of closure, you will be allocated to a local practice so you can continue to receive GP services. This will not affect your right to choose to register with a different local practice if you prefer.
Our FAQs on this page will help to answer some questions. If you have any other questions you can email communications@selondonics.nhs.uk.
What we heard
Patients at the face-to-face event at St Mary's Community Centre in Eltham on Thursday 28 May told us about their experience of care at Eltham Palace Surgery.
Some of the people attending had been registered with the surgery for many years and felt sad about the predicament the surgery was in and said they would prefer a new provider to take it over if possible.
Some were concerned about the quality of care they had received and shared their gratitude about something being done to ensure patients receive good and safe care in the future.
The online event in early June heard similar views, and a desire for clear messaging when a decision is made.
What happens next?
We will use patient feedback to inform recommendations and ensure the decision regarding the future of the practice is made in a fair and transparent way.
The decision was made at the Healthier Greenwich Partnership meeting on 23 July 2026. you can read the papers on NHS South East London ICB’s website at: https://www.selondonics.org/in-your-area/greenwich/.
We have written to patients to inform them about the outcome and to outline next steps. Please be assured that for now, your registration as a patient with the practice remains unchanged.
