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Why three health ministers came to see how we work
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By Penrose Health
In February 2026, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care visited Penrose Surgery in Walworth. He met our clinical and operational teams and heard about our London Bridge Patient Support Hub, which answers calls and online queries so the team in each practice can focus on the patients in front of them.
It was not the first visit of its kind. Ministers came to Knight's Hill Surgery in 2023, and to our London Bridge hub in 2025. In all, three successive health ministers, two Secretaries of State and a care minister, have come to see how we run primary care.
So why the steady stream of visitors? We think it is because of what we are trying to show: that running general practice at scale, with shared systems and a central support hub, can make care easier to reach without losing the local, personal relationships that matter most.
"What people come to see is simple," says Sunil Gupta, Partner and a founder of Penrose. "You can run general practice at scale and still know your patients. The two are not opposites."
We are proud that our approach draws this kind of interest. But the point was never the visits. It is care that is easier to reach, and clinicians who have the time to give it.
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