Doctors warn GP surgeries in remote areas need more protection as practices continue to close, with patients having to travel miles to be seen.  

Rural GP closures are putting vulnerable patients at risk and leaving communities without easy access to primary care, doctors have warned.

The British Medical Association (BMA) says patients in remote areas are being left behind as GP practices continue to close, forcing some people to travel miles for appointments and placing additional strain on neighbouring surgeries.

Since 2015, 1,474 GP practices in England have closed or merged, leaving 6,149 remaining. Over the same period, the number of full-time equivalent GPs has fallen by 356 despite growing patient demand.

The warning follows the closure of Reeth Medical Centre in North Yorkshire in May, which left 1,600 patients in the lurch. The surgery’s GP partner retired after 18 years, but the Integrated Care Board (ICB) could not find a replacement.

Unable to keep the surgery open, the ICB proposed transferring patients to neighbouring practices, including Central Dales Practice, based 14 miles away. Due to the distance and poor public transport, however, many patients were left “stuck”, said Jonathan Pain, lead partner at Central Dales, which has now set up a temporary branch at the Reeth site.

Already one GP down, taking on so many additional patients was a “stretch”, he added, with help needed from the ICB.

Funding rethink

Proper planning must be in place to prevent this from happening again, Pain said, “not just for doctors who are overstretched, but for patients who rely on their GP being close by.”

While a fifth of GPs work in rural areas, many practices struggle to recruit and retain doctors, with the closure of facilities and services, such as schools, banks and post offices, making the areas less attractive places to live, the BMA says.

Losing a GP is a “crisis” for patients in rural areas, who tend to be older, have more complex needs and may struggle to travel, said Brian McGregor, North Yorkshire member of the BMA’s GP committee.

Meanwhile, the closure of nearby health services has shifted the burden onto GPs, stretching “their capacity to meet an unmanageable demand”, McGregor added.

He said that GP funding needs to be redesigned with rural practices in mind, as they don’t receive the same amount of money as centres in urban areas, despite their “unique pressures”.

Proper funding, he added, would help practices employ enough GPs to avoid potential closures.