Seeing family doctors in Brighton and Hove is more difficult than a year ago and surgeries should be prevented from closing down to help meet demand, according to a study by University of Brighton researchers.
Some 700 residents were canvassed and 96 per cent said they wanted local councillors and the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which buys in health services, to immediately draw up a strategy to “guarantee no more GP surgery closures across the city”.
Fifty per cent said it is more difficult or much more difficult to get a GP appointment than a year ago, and 45 per cent said there had been no change.
The survey revealed strong opposition to privatising services: more than 96 per cent wanted public health nursing to remain in the NHS and they called on Brighton and Hove CCG not to spend money moving NHS contracts to the private sector.
More than 90 per cent were unaware private contractors will soon be considered for providing services including wellbeing, anti-coagulation and GP out-of-hours, and they preferred them to remain in the NHS. They said privatisation of patient transport services should not have been allowed to happen.
The Brighton Citizen’s Health Services Survey, the second of its kind, was carried out by a team of University of Brighton academics headed by principal lecturer Dr Carl Walker, from the university’s College of Social Sciences.
He said: “The surveys seek to make local peoples’ voices heard on issues of NHS privatisation and cuts. Ninety per cent said they have never been consulted by the local CCG on any of the local NHS changes they have carried out in the last three years and 83 per cent thought they had no say at all in the running of their NHS services.
“Perhaps if local people had been more fully involved, the patient transport farce would not have happened since 97 per cent of residents believe that Brighton and Hove CCG should not spend money moving NHS contracts into the private sector.”
Dr Walker said the survey showed 90 per cent wanted large-scale cuts to the NHS made the subject of wide public consultations before they are made, including any cuts to community-based, integrated healthcare designed to cope with the pressures of a growing and ageing population.
Peter Kyle the Labour MP for Hove & Portslade, said: “It is clear that the health economy for our city is bankrupt. We have a hospital, ambulance service, and health trust all in special measures. Six GP surgeries have closed in the last year alone. Patient transport is in turmoil due to the failed Coperforma contract. Patients and desperately hard working, caring, frontline NHS staff are being let down. In the last week I have called on Jeremy Hunt to appoint someone to conduct a review of health in our city and how it can be improved across the board”.
Simon Kirby, MP the Conservative MP for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven, said: “I agree that it is important to support General Practice in the local area and this is at the heart of the Government’s commitment to a high quality, seven-day health service.
“To increase patient access to GPs, the NHS will invest an additional £2.4 billion a year in GP services by 2020/21. This investment will be supplemented by a £500 million Sustainability and Transformation package in order to alleviate the pressure on GP services.
“Through new incentives for training, recruitment, retention and return to practice, the Government will deliver 5,000 additional doctors, 3,000 more practice-based mental health therapists, 1,500 co-funded practice clinical pharmacists and nationally funded support for the wider primary care workforce. The Government’s £1 billion Primary Care Transformation Fund will also deliver GP premises fit for the future, as well as investment to support better technologies and the development of modern working practices.
“The primary focus of the NHS is providing the highest quality of care to its patients. I fully believe in the NHS and its core values, and Ministers have guaranteed that the NHS will always provide treatment free at the point of need, regardless of ability to pay. You may find it of interest to know that the use of private providers in the NHS represents just over seven pence in every pound the NHS spends, an increase of just two and a half pence in the pound since 2010, and a slower rate of growth than under Labour. I can assure you therefore that this Government does not intend to privatise the NHS.”
For more information on the Brighton Citizens’ Health Services Survey, click here: