SEVENTEEN GP surgeries in Hackney and Tower Hamlets are facing closure from Tory-led coalition cuts.
Five GP practices in Tower Hamlets and 12 in Hackney are understood to be among 98 in deprived areas identified by NHS England as being at risk of closure as a result of changes introduced this month.
GPs in the two east London boroughs said they could go bankrupt within months — leaving about 100,000 patients without a family doctor.
The government changes to the NHS GP funding formula mean that money has been taken out of mitigating the health impacts of poverty and is instead being allocated to rural areas.
One doctor, who has worked in the East End for 21 years, said he took home just £500 last month despite working 200 hours.
Dr Sarit Patel said he could be forced to close next year after being told his core NHS funding of £12,500 a month was being cut by a quarter, adding: ‘We can’t pay the staff.’
His St Katharine Docks Practice, which has 1,600 patients, is the worst hit of 36 of 38 surgeries in Tower Hamlets to have their funding reduced.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said: ‘It is unacceptable that these practices, many of which serve deprived areas in East London, are left fighting for survival because the government has failed to take their circumstances into account.’
Labour councillors in Tower Hamlets have launched a new campaign to save five of the deprived borough’s GP surgeries after it was revealed the surgeries face closure as a result of new government cuts.
Labour’s mayoral candidate John Biggs and Labour councillors have launched a petition against the closures and are encouraging residents across the borough to sign up. The Jubilee Street Practice is among the five practices in Tower Hamlets that are at risk of closure.
Dr Naomi Beer, a GP at the closure-threatened practice in Shadwell, said: ‘Give it a year and I think we will have to close.’
Practice manager Virginia Patania said: ‘We are now eating into practice savings to continue providing a quality service. But we are planning for a “red button day” when we will have to dissolve the practice.’
Labour’s deputy leader, Cllr Rachael Saunders, said: ‘Over the last few years the Tories have closed most of our borough’s police stations, cut the number of fire stations and now they are coming after the local NHS.
‘We will oppose these closures at every stage to make sure that residents are not left without access to the local health services they deserve. With the fastest growing population in the country and high levels of need, the idea the government wants to close GP surgeries in Tower Hamlets is extraordinary.’
Labour’s candidate for Mayor of Tower Hamlets, John Biggs, said: ‘With long waits for appointments already a fact of life for many, any cuts will further reduce residents’ access to healthcare.
‘And in a borough with such a concentration of long-term health problems this is an outrage. As Mayor I would fight tooth and nail against these kind of ideological, Tory NHS cuts.’
