Is there a doctor in the house...or the estate?
ENORMOUS PROJECT COULD BE LEFT WITH NO PRACTICE
HEALTH bosses have been accused of making a “ludicrous” claim that the potential 14,000 residents of Newcastle’s Great Park have no need for any new GP practices.
NewcastleGateshead Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been accused of not providing sufficient healthcare provision for the current and future residents of the massive development site in the north of the city.
The claims, made by Lib Dem Castle ward councillor Aidan King, came as a further 1,200 new homes were approved for the site by Newcastle City Council’s planning committee last week.
However, CCG bosses say they are “very much aware” of the healthcare needs of the Great Park and are investigating the “best way to provide extra GP capacity in the area”. The Great Park does currently have a pharmacy, which opened in August, to serve the residents of its existing homes, but no doctor’s surgery.
When the entire development is completed, the site will have more than 14,000 people living there.
Coun King said: “The concern I have is that, having met with representatives of the CCG and NHS England about the GP provision on the Great Park, they seem to have taken the position whereby there is going to be no provision. They have said that there is no evidence that GP provision is needed on the Great Park.”
He added that it would be “ludicrous” to accept any assertion that there is no need for a GP practice.
The Newcastle City Council planning officers’ report also stated that the CCG has “not provided any supporting empirical evidence to demonstrate the need for additional healthcare facilities within the Great Park, identified what area of land would be required for healthcare facility or requested any specific financial contribution towards constructing a facility”.
Jackie Cairns, director of strategy and integration at NHS Newcastle Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We are very much aware of the need for high-quality healthcare services in the Great Park area, and we have been working on this issue with Newcastle City Council and NHS England for some time. Many Great Park residents are already registered with practices in surrounding areas, and it’s important that we take into consideration patient choice but we do recognise that there are still a number of houses to be built on the site.
“Our key priority is to find the best way to provide extra GP capacity in the area. This could be through a new facility, a branch of an neighbouring practice or simply investing in more GPs and facilities at nearby surgeries.
“We are reviewing these issues in detail, and this includes making sure that we can secure the GPs who would be needed to run any new service.
“This is a priority for us, and we will continue to ensure that highquality GP services are available to local residents in the future.”
Under the terms of a proposed agreement to build the 1,200 homes on Cell A of the Great Park, developers will provide land in the town centre for healthcare provision – but it would be up to local NHS bosses to run it.
Coun King called for the developers, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey, to provide funding that would help meet the running costs of a GP surgery, adding: “We are in a position where there is a plot, but there is a private developer from London to build the facility – leaving the NHS with a large commitment to fund that afterwards.
“What I am concerned about is a position where the CCG can’t find the funds.”
Dave Abercrombie of Taylor Wimpey told the planning committee that information from the CCG had not been forthcoming in the past year.
He added: “We are as keen as anybody to help the healthcare provision move forward.”