HEALTH bosses say West Cumbria is in 'critical need of GPs' following a meeting with Copeland’s MP about the proposed closure of a village doctor’s surgery.

Trudy Harrison met with management at the North Cumbria Primary Care Alliance (NCPC), which runs Frizington Surgery.

Fellview Healthcare announced an application would be lodged with NHS England to permanently close the surgery – due to a shortage of GPs.

It has caused uproar among residents, with thousands signing a petition against the proposed closure.

A number of public drop-in sessions have been held by the NPCC over the last few weeks and it has been confirmed that the consultation process has now ended.

A spokesperson for the NCPCC said: “It was good to meet with Trudy Harrison last week to share the challenges facing primary care in Copeland which include issues with GP recruitment and the pressures of providing continuity of care with primarily a workforce of locum GPs.

“North Cumbria Primary Care Alliance was initially set up in 2019 to tackle the health inequalities in rural north and west Cumbria, which in part were brought about by the local challenges in GP recruitment.

“We are a not-for-profit enterprise and employ all of our doctors on a salaried basis. Any 'profits' that are made are invested in patient services. Most other practices work as private businesses with a 'for profit' model and deliver NHS contracts as private businesses.

“We have tried to recruit GPs and other clinicians over the last three years with some success but many GPs are leaving to take up more lucrative and less demanding posts as locums and many are leaving the profession due to workload pressures.

“The west coast of Cumbria is in critical need of GPs. Copeland has been heavily dependent on locums and locum costs over the last two years have increased from £625 per day to £1,100.

“Nationally, practices have received a 3 per cent contract uplift on 60 per cent of our NHS funding - the remainder of our NHS funding has received no uplift at all, with no funding for the national minimum wage rise or employer national insurance rise.

“We are faced with inflationary increases that impact all of our supplies and, in particular, our premises service bills which have increased by 21 per cent. We are trying our best to provide primary care services for all our patients with the backdrop of this pressure.

“We are implementing an improved model of care based around clinical hubs with the overarching aim to deliver local practice with greater flexibility in service delivery for all our patients in Copeland. We have approached the Integrated Care Board to support us in this.”

Mrs Harrison said: “I have held a productive meeting with the management at the North Cumbria Primary Care Alliance regarding the proposal to close Frizington Surgery.

“I spoke on behalf of the community in terms of the significant impact of the proposed closure, while NCPC outlined the reasons for the move.

“We discussed a number of issues surrounding Frizington Surgery, and the wider Fellview Healthcare model, namely recruitment, training, finances and contracts.

“NCPC told me that there has been a significant response from the community in terms of the public meeting and consultation events, plus the online survey and petition.

“We agreed to take away the points raised and suggestions made from our meeting and we will reconvene in around a month’s time to allow for further exploratory work to be done in the meantime.

“Pending this follow-up meeting and any potential outcomes, I have therefore requested that NCPC delays any immediate application to close the surgery.”