Throughout the pandemic, our GPs have done a phenomenal job, continuing to provide healthcare within our communities, whilst also spearheading part of the local vaccination programme. In our area, GPs have run vaccination centres in Midhurst, Petworth, Selsey and Tangmere, and most recently in Sidlesham, to help with the booster rollout, which I look forward to visiting soon.
In recent weeks, several people have written to me about some of the challenges they’ve faced in accessing GP appointments. More and more GPs are triaging patients by phone or video consultation to reduce face to face contact over the pandemic. I visited Southbourne Surgery on Friday to raise this concern and see how their new systems are working. Understandably, they, like many other GP surgeries are dealing with a vast increase in appointment requests as many people didn’t seek medical treatment over lockdowns. Consequently, their phone lines are busy, with 70% of their patient roster calling each month. To ensure they can get to everyone, the surgery has recruited four new receptionists to handle the increase, as well as, bringing on a new care coordinator and two more GPs.
That said, the Government has been clear that practices should respect preferences for in-person appointments unless there are good clinical reasons. Understanding that may be easier said than done, we’ve invested £250 million into the Winter Access Fund to help GPs increase the availability of face-to-face appointments.
On a separate note, another key issue in the area is the River Ems where we’ve been working to protect the river from over-abstraction by Portsmouth Water. Last week on a call with the Environment Agency (EA) they confirmed a new project will get underway this summer. Designed with the community group, Friends of the River Ems, the EA and Portsmouth Water, it will pump water back to the river during times of low flow to protect the habitats and wildlife that rely on the river. There is still more to do to protect the river long term – but this is a really positive step in the meantime and shows the power of working together to bring about change.
