Surgery among "worst in the country": Rotherham's struggle with GP access sparks concern

ACCESS to GP appointments in Rotherham is “in crisis” — and action is needed at a national level to tackle the problem, a council meeting was told.

Senior councillor David Roche was confronted by Labour colleague at the Rotherham Council scrutiny meeting who said her local surgery had been ranked as one of the worst in the country.

Cllr Roche, who was presenting recommendations of from council’s the Access to Primary Care Review, said that “recruitment and retention, conditions of service, and the lingering impact of Covid” were reasons why access to primary care was “not good, but it’s a national issue”.

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He added: “Rotherham compares OK regionally in Yorkshire and the Humber but that still isn’t good enough and it needs to be improved.”

Lyndsay Pitchley, Labour councillor for Aughton and Swallownest, said residents in her ward would be “horrified”.

She told Cllr Roche: “I’m not disputing what you say but our practice locally was named as one of the worst in the country so it would be amiss not to say so — because I’d be lynched by our local residents if I did not actually mention that.”

Cllr Pitchley said young mums calling GP practices with urgent needs on a Friday had been told to ring back on Monday “so they’re left over the weekend with a sickly child and they end up presenting at A&E which is causing further problems.”

She added: “There’s more and more housing and less and less GPs, and I don’t know how we can ever ease that pressure.”

Cllr Roche replied: “I’m not happy, you’re not happy and I’m not sure the majority of residents are happy about access to primary care either.”

The councillor revealed that pre-Covid, he could get an appointment within two days but added “that’s all gone” as it had recently taken him three weeks.

Cllr Roche said it reflected the national problem where many GPs were retiring early over issues with pensions.

Cllr Adam Carter, Liberal Democrat councillor for Brinsworth ward, himself an NHS doctor, said GPs shared patients’ concerns but jobs were being advertised and “you get nought or one GP applying, which suggests we’ve not got an oversupply of GPs”.

Patient demand had risen “hugely” by 50 per cent since 2017, and Covid had seen a further rise, the meeting was told.

Sharon Kemp, the council’s chief executive and co-chair of Place Board, described the current climate as “a very challenging situation”, saying “no-one’s under any illusions that the access is where we want it to be”.

She pledged to raise the issue formally at the Place Board and with the Integrated Care Board, but added: “I think there needs to be some structural changes and challenge to national policy before we can see some significant increase in improvement at a local level.”