A GP practice in Herefordshire is being forced to shut down two of its branch surgeries because of recruitment problems, in a move the Local Medical Committee (LMC) has warned could prove ‘extremely destabilising’ for GPs and patients.
Two surgeries in Herefordshire are set to close in a matter of months after NHS England said the practices are ‘no longer possible to maintain’ because of recruitment issues.
Meanwhile a practice in Scunthorpe is set to close in October when the two partners retire, and NHS England has announced nine practices across Teesside and Hartlepool could close when their APMS contracts expire at the end of the year or in early 2015.
This news follows the revelation earlier this year by medical magazine Pulse that more than 100 practices across the UK had either closed or were actively considering closing, as a result of funding cuts.
In Herefordshire, the practices affected are both branches of the Kington Medical Practice – Eardisley and Pembridge practices.
The local area team says that Kington will be able to take on their branches’ patients but Dr Richard Dales, medical secretary at Herefordshire LMC and a GP at the neighbouring Croase Orchard surgery, told Pulse that he still had concerns about the impact of the closures.
Dr Dales said: ‘Kington straddles the border with Wales and we’ve got problems on both sides – I’m one of the practices next door and we’ve not got great capacity.
‘If there was suddenly a large change in numbers of patients it would be extremely destabilising.’
Elsewhere campaigners are calling for urgent action to save the Cauvery Medical Practice in Scunthorpe, which is set to close in October when the GP partners retire – leaving 3,700 patients without a practice.
