Greens call for action as another GP surgery in the city closes

Greens call for action on GP shortages as Hove Park Villas Surgery faces closure as Practice struggles to replace outgoing GP.

GREEN Councillors on Brighton and Hove City Council have repeated their call for action on GP shortages following news that another surgery in the city faces closure.

Hove Park Villas surgery, which has a list of 4,350 patients, could shut its doors in October 2018 due to a shortage of doctors.

A letter from the Clinical Commissioning Group to local Health and Wellbeing Board Chair Cllr Daniel Yates, the new leader of the Labour group on the city council and council leader in waiting, said the surgery had struggled to recruit a replacement for a retiring GP, “despite considerable effort.”

Greens continue to challenge the Labour-led Council to do more to address the worsening number of GPs in the city and called on Cllr Daniel Yates to detail actions taken to address the problem at a Council meeting last Thursday.

Figures obtained by Green Councillor Dick Page last year revealed the city faces an estimated shortage of one GP to every 2,500 patients.

Cllr Page, Green Health and Wellbeing spokesperson, said: “It is important that local health leaders can reassure patients that when their retiring doctor cannot be replaced, it does not mean ongoing disruption to their care. However the number of surgery closures in our city should be a matter of urgent action and concern for this Labour Council. Greens raised the alarm on dangerously low number of GPs in our city long ago. Yet the response from Labour has been to push for NHS ‘integration,’ even though we know many of these new plans for the NHS are underpinned by a series of further, damaging cuts instead of desperately needed investment into primary care.”

Cllr Daniel Yates responded: “I made clear at the Council meeting that this was a long-standing issue of concern for the whole health system that has been evident across the city for at least 4 years.

“In 2015 I asked the Health Overview Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) to investigate the issue as it is clearly a national undersupply of GPs coupled with local factors such as retiring GP’s and a shift in the working pattern of many GPs from becoming partners in GP practices to more flexible GP roles. The report that came to the HOSC in December 2015 was comprehensive and made clear how the CCG was working to tackle these factors. Additionally there is, subject to confirmation, around 300k being made available to support GP recruitment and retention across the city by the CCG.

“In a tough world for GP recruitment the City is responding and working to ensure that our primary care services are stable and sustainable.”