500,000 patients forced to find new GP

The Mirror reports on a NHS GP crisis that has left over 500,000 patients across the UK looking for a new surgery.

Data released from Clinical Commissioning Groups revealed that in 2018 138 GP practices closed across the UK - increasing more than seven-fold since 2013.

Chief executive of the Patients Association Rachel Power commented: ‘Patients will be right to feel alarmed by these findings. Many may be left wondering if their practice might be next to face closure.’

Liberal Democrat councillor Alan Broadhurst, whose local surgery closed in Chandler’s Ford, Hants affecting 7,000 patients, said: ‘Some of the patients have had to go to a surgery which was a couple of miles away by car. For older people who do not drive this has been a real problem for them, they couldn’t find a surgery within walking distance. They get hit the hardest.’

Full article:

→ The Mirror - NHS crisis forces 500,000 patients to find new GP after mass surgery closures

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