Face-to-face on GP budget cuts
Dec 31 2007 by Ben Guy, The Journal
DOCTORS and representatives from a care trust will have the chance to talk face-to-face at a special council meeting held to discuss controversial budget cuts.
GP practices across Northumberland face having their budgets cut by up to 8% next year and 12% the following year.
The cuts, made by cash-strapped Northumberland Care Trust, have been greeted with anger by GPs, some of whom say rural practices will have to close as a result.
Now a Tynedale District Council committee is to hold a special meeting, where health chiefs and GPs will discuss the implications of the cuts.
Coun Lorna Garrett, who will chair the meeting, said: “The reason it is being held is that we have had a number of requests from various councillors to look at what the impact of the changes will be on Tynedale.
“The big concern is that there will be a lessening of services. There has been a lot of coverage of the issue and we need to sort out the fact from the fiction.
“What we hope to achieve is two-fold. As councillors, we have a duty to represent the public who elect us and we have to try to air their concerns.
“The second thing is to listen to the care trust and what they have to say.”
Dr Steven Ford, of Haydon and Allen Valleys Medical Practice, said he intended to attend the meeting and welcomed the involvement of the council.
He said: “I would hope that the council would sustain its interest until the matter is resolved in the interests of the patients.
“We have had revised offers, but they will do little more than prolong the agony.
“There has been some shifting about but nothing substantial and the situation is still pretty grim.”
The trust has already written to the council, outlining why the cuts need to be made and how the figures were reached. A spokesman for the trust said: “We will be pleased to be there and are pleased to have been given the opportunity to attend.
“We will explain the most up to date situation.
“We will outline the background to the revised offers and will take questions from the councillors about why this is needed.
“Also, we will be able to reassure them about the wider work that is running in parallel, which is to develop more services in GP practices.
“This will mean greater investment in the practices and will offset the impact.”
The Community Health and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting will take place next Monday at 6.30pm in the council chamber.
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