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NHS Peterborough consultation: New fear over GPs provision in the city
Vice chairman of Peterborough Local Involvement Network (LINk) Gordon Lacey. Picture: David Lowndes/Peterborough ET
FEARS there will not be enough GPs if surgeries are closed in a major shake-up of Peterborough health services have been raised by a practice manager.
Amanda Harrington, practice manager at Burghley Road and Dogsthorpe surgeries, spoke out at Monday night’s (18 July) NHS Consultation meeting to say she believed if the changes went ahead there would not be enough doctors for patients.
NHS Peterborough has outlined three options for the future of health care in the city, the first of which is do nothing other than improve the facilities for GPs in the Ortons.
But its preferred option will see the number of practices across Peterborough reduce from 29 to about 20 larger surgeries including the closure of Alma Road Centre and Burghley Road Surgery.
Mrs Harrington said the surgery has 2,500 patients and would close by March next year if the preferred option was chosen.
She said: “There is no way that around 2,000 patients, plus however many there are at Alma Road, will be able to go to another surgery.
“There just aren’t enough GPs in the area.
“You can’t just pull GPs out of thin air, it takes time to employ more doctors.
“It won’t be possible to get more GPs in before the changes, it’s happening too quickly.”
Gordon Lacey, the vice chairman of Peterborough Local Involvement Network (LINk), said he believed doctors might be saying they can take on more patients even if their register is full. Practices receive money from the primary care trust (PCT) for the number of patients they treat.
Speaking at the meeting at Dogsthorpe Infants School, he said: “I share your concerns, there’s the feeling that ‘well they would say that wouldn’t they’.
“The PCT needs to be quite rigorous about establishing an actual capacity as opposed to the declared capacity of the surgeries.
“I would urge the PCT, and I have been urging, to do this. How can surgeries welcome extra patients when some patients can’t get an appointment for four days?”
Peter Wightman, the PCT interim director of primary care, said they could only work with what the practices told them.
In a statement released yesterday (19 July) he added: “Currently all of the surgeries in Peterborough are open to new patient registrations, with the exception of the Hampton practice. NHS Peterborough is in constant communication with practices regarding their future capacity.
“We have assurances from practices serving the Park, North and Central areas there is more than sufficient capacity to meet the population growth in these areas and the impact of closing Burghley Road and Alma Road, if this were to happen.
“For those practices stating they can take on extra patients, practices are expected to demonstrate they have sufficient staff and space to deliver this.”
Are you concerned about a potential lack of GPs in Peterborough?
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Comments
There are 2 comments to this article
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smalllove2
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 12:12 PMIn my practice they appear to be trying to get around this problem by giving their nurses more to do. If you have minor problems such as 'flu, migraines etc., they won't let you see a GP. They also do reviews of your treatment.
annarak
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 08:11 PMI've read the consultation through a couple of times, it's got more holes than a second hand colander. I'm convinced the the PCT decided they could close Alma Road & Burghley Road, because they're on short contracts, then worked backwards to justify the decision. The hair brained idea of calling the City Care Centre a "Minor Injuries Unit" is going to add to even more confusion, how will the patient decide whether there injury is minor, they won't, they'll be straight to A&E. I honestly think that if the consultation had been done by non NHS folk, with no vested interest, the outcome would be so different.
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