Pressure on rural GP surgeries

Yesterday, AudlemOnline received information saying: "Cuts in health funding that could see scores of GP surgeries close across England must be reversed, says Cheshire Community Action.

"The charity is backing a call by its national body ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England), which says the changes to the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) will hit the most vulnerable rural residents."

Before publishing anything, we have checked with Audlem Medical Practice what the situation is locally. They say:

"Audlem Medical Practice is not at risk from MPIG changes and closure at this time is not envisaged.

"We are concerned that workload and therefore the resources, especially staff, required to provide timely access to care are increasing against a background of falling funding for General Practice and community services nationally.

"There is a workforce crisis building with reduced numbers of GPs in training and junior doctors opting to move overseas for better working conditions.

"We have been fortunate in Audlem to recruit well over the years but we are anxious about the added pressure of new housing and a growing practice population when our premises are already stretched.

"The government has found £1bn from somewhere to invest in GP premises and we are meeting with NHS PropCo shortly to investigate what we can do to increase our capacity.

"Local residents have responded well to the changes we have made to improve access over the past few years eg; telephone triage, on-line appointment booking and the expanded roles our nurses and health care assistants have taken on to share the workload. The options to manage demand are becoming harder to identify however.

"We continue to work with the Patient Participation Group to discuss these various issues in order to make considered decisions on the best way forward. The PPG members welcome ideas and feedback from patients to inform those discussions."

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