More GP surgeries could face the same fate as Sandown Medical Centre, a senior health boss has warned.
Dr Timothy Whelan, the deputy clinical chair of the Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group, said some surgeries were just ‘one incident away from collapse’.
Speaking at the Isle of Wight Health and Wellbeing board meeting today (Thursday), he said the Isle of Wight had a real problem with recruitment and retention of GPs and nurses.
He said:
“We have heard about Sandown having to close their lists, and I would say that around the country too — it’s not just an Isle of Wight problem — there remain practices which feel they are just one incident away from collapse, and that is certainly the case on the Island.
“I have been speaking to quite a few practices on this Island which are really struggling, every bit as much as Sandown and we can only hope Sandown is now given the breathing space to reorganise itself and to reopen and provide the full service that it used to.
“We need to be aware that the same fate could quite quickly befall other practices on the Island.”
Fears have been raised the Island’s GP recruitment crisis is spiralling out of control, and last week Sandown Medical Centre closed its lists to new patients, except where they are immediate family members of existing patients, due to a shortage of doctors.
The clinic hopes to reopen the list this autumn after taking on a newly qualified GP. The centre applied to close its list for 12 months, but only a six-month closure was approved.
Dr Whelan said the crisis was a reflection of a wider national problem.
“With the council, we share all these woes,” he said.
“There has been quite a lot to say about housing — the health and wellbeing of every population has remarkably little to do with doctors and nurses, but housing, education, employment and transport and of course the council has major influence over those factors.”
He said these factors were also preventing the recruitment of good doctors and nurses.
“Why would good doctors or nurses, looking for a job, come to the Island when they discover the schools are sub-optimal, there are limited employment opportunities for partners and the housing stock is rather limited?”
He said the council, trust and CCG should work together to fix these issues.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which OnTheWight is taking part in. Some additions by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: christinawelsh under CC BY 2.0
