GP cuts just add pressure to hospitals

The Kent Messenger has been campaigning to correct existing inequalities in healthcare provision in Maidstone.

Our Access All Areas campaign calls for a walk-in centre to bridge the gap between oversubscribed GPs and a struggling A&E.

The borough is the largest in Kent without either a minor injuries unit or urgent care centre, with its 161,800strong population already directed to services more than 20 miles away in Sevenoaks and Edenbridge for lesser emergencies such as wounds, minor head injuries and scalds.

While patients are urged to avoid A&E outside emergencies, surveys show a third of people who can not access their GPs out of hours opt to visit a hospital, where the estimated cost of a consultation is 10 times more than the NHS pays for an appointment with a doctor.

In fact, new research from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde suggest that slipping targets for NHS finance and performance across the UK are directly linked to £250m in real term cuts to GP services in the last six years.

So far more than 300 have joined the Kent Messenger’s campaign.

Anyone wishing to sign the petition can do so online at tinyurl.com/KMwalkin or at the Kent Messenger office at 6-7 Middle Row, Maidstone.