GP shortage fears over plans to build 9,000 new homes in south Lancaster

Lancaster’s primary care services – doctors, dentists, pharmacists and opticians – were discussed at a city council scrutiny meeting with councillors, managers from Lancaster Medical Practice and staff from a new regional NHS organisation covering Lancashire and South Cumbria.

The meeting was called after councillors highlighted public concerns last year about delays in seeing doctors, getting telephone calls answered by receptionists rather than answering machines and delays in getting prescriptions from chemists.

Lancaster City Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee invited various NHS representatives to discuss the concerns and hear their views.

Speakers included Amy Williams, managing partner at Lancaster Medical Practice, and Dr Gavin Torr, the practice’s GP partner.

Other speakers at the council meeting included Peter Tinson, the director of primary care at the new NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (known as an ICB) and Hilary Fordham, the ICB’s integrated place lead.

Although Lancashire County Council and NHS organisations are mainly responsible for public health, lower-tier district councils such as Lancaster are important for local input and also deal with many planning applications for new homes.

The south Lancaster area around Lancaster University could see up to 9,000 new homes built over the next 20 years, along with new links to the M6 and other infrastructure, under an agreement with the county council and the government. But the ideas are still at an early stage.

There is also some opposition or doubt among some people about whether the south Lancaster growth ideas will progress as originally intended.

Dr Gavin Torr, from Lancaster Medical Practice, talked about public concerns last year around the pandemic and the changes now, plus the population’s medical needs and Lancaster’s future growth.

He said: “I am the current chairman of the partnership. We would like to know what concerns there are now and whether people feel we need to offer a new practice or get a different organisation?

“For every 1,800 people who come to this area, we need a GP. If we build 5,000 new homes we are going to need about eight GPs. The UK is struggling to maintain GP numbers at the moment. However, our practice is retaining GPs locally, which is a strength, and people want to come to work with us.

“My concern is if we tried to find someone else to do this work [create another extra practice] they would struggle to find another eight GPs. We have a plan for the future. We would be remiss if we did not plan about providing care. But they can build houses a lot faster than we can recruit GPs. We need two to three years to build.

“We are the big player in Lancaster. But we are not empire building. We are trying to provide the best care for the people of Lancaster.

“We have opportunities to do things a bit differently because of our size. There are government ambitions for smaller practices to collaborate together and do things on a bigger scale. We are already doing that.

“We’re not here to demand or suggest that we are the best people to do it and must do it. But we want to future-proof our practice and care for Lancaster people.

“The worst thing is to have a practice on your patch that is not doing well. That creates problems. If a local practice is not collaborating, that creates problems.”

Coun Richard Austen-Baker spoke about future new homes for south Lancaster.

He said: “There are plans to build 9,000 new homes, not 5,000, which I presume will need 15 GPs for 30,000 people. I am very sceptical that it will ever be done for various reasons including the economics and construction costs.

“The concern that led to the city council’s motion about health care is that we don’t have enough choice. There are 65,000 people in Lancaster. Add another 30,000 with the new homes. That’s 90,000 people. Having an extra practice would not be a bad idea? A disgruntled partner may want to move to a new practice. That’s the theory.”

Dr Torr replied: “I fully respect the comments that it has been a difficult time. Over the years, the structure of primary care has changed. I think we are more robust. We don’t think we are in a problematic place any more. However, if people still think that then we would like to know and we’d strive to make things better. We hope things are significantly better now than the times being described.

“We are not looking for work. If the council wanted another person to form a practice that is its prerogative. However, I think you would struggle. If it is not going to be an option then we need to know as soon as possible. These people would become our partners and we need to plan.”

Coun Austen-Baker said the south Lancaster homes idea was a long-term plan. The city council’s primary healthcare motion reflected that the council is the main authority for housing planning applications and decisions.

“Planning officers could pro-actively consider medical practices when looking at developments and see if we can introduce a bit more choice for a city that would be 50 per cent bigger,” he said.

Peter Tinson, director of primary care for the new NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB, said: “This situation happens with other councils. We work with councils to understand the size of housing developments and speak to health clinics.

“I don’t think the time is right yet. But when we know more about how things are developing then we will have conversations.”