People will die if GP services are not maintained in a remote Yorkshire Dales community facing the closure of its medical centre, councillors have been warned.
Swaledale and Arkengarthdale residents spoke out about their concerns over plans to close Reeth Medical Centre at a North Yorkshire Council meeting today (MONDAY).
The care and independence overview and scrutiny committee agreed to debate the future of primary care in the two dales after it was announced the centre would shut at the end of May following the retirement of Dr Mike Brookes and practice manager Marie Brookes.
Ashley Robinson, a data analyst who lives in the village of Thwaite, told the committee how the local community had organised a survey of patients to assess the impact of any closure, with 80 per cent of households registered at the practice taking part.
Councillors heard how more than 30 households without access to a car were identified.
“The ICB’s assumption that they can just go to Leyburn is a physical impossibility for much of the winter,” said Mr Robinson.
He added: “Our population is 26 per cent sicker than the national average. With a 99.4 per cent dispensing rate (at the medical centre pharmacy), Reeth is our lifeblood.
“Removing this service creates an immediate ‘pharmacy desert’ for over 1,200 people.
“When we asked residents to describe this closure in three words, the most haunting response was simply ‘people will die’. We need your help to make
sure that does not happen.”
Reverend Canon Caroline Hewlett, vicar of the Benefice of Swaledale with Arkengarthdale, said the local community had a large population of older people, many with complex health needs, who were “deeply worried” about the situation.
She added: “One of my neighbours lives with spina bifida and has relied on the medical centre to keep him alive.
“A friend who lives in Reeth with a serious illness says that she would not be alive and would not have been able to have her children without a careful, local GP service.”
The vicar said she was aware of one elderly couple who put their house on the market last week because of the announcement over the medical centre, saying “this is no longer a place where you can grow old”.
Arkengarthdale resident Gill Fawcett told councillors: “There are a lot of people that can’t drive any more and who don’t have family members living near. There is no public transport. We feel left behind.
“A neighbour said: ‘if there are no doctors, people are going to die’.”
The meeting heard an update from chair, Councillor Barbara Brodigan, who has been involved in talks with the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) over the future of GP services.
She said a business case was expected “imminently” from the Richmondshire Primary Care Network on how a branch GP service could be provided in Reeth.
The committee agreed to recommend to the health scrutiny committee, which is due to meet at Grinton Church on May 8, to discuss the future of GP services in the area, that it considers asking the ICB to put in place interim arrangements to give more time for a viable solution to be found.
Comments are closed.
It might have been more compassionate of Mr.and Mrs. Brookes to announce their retirement in a year’s time to give the authorities more time to find replacements.