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Enfield residents raise concerns over GP shortage

Enfield residents raise concerns over GP shortage

Neighbours have warned a lack of access to medical care could worsen as housing developments continue to spring up around them.

People living in Bowes, in the south of Enfield, quizzed a health representative about a shortage of GPs in their area at a ward forum on Monday (September 9).

The meeting was attended by Fazilla Ahmed of Healthwatch Enfield – an organisation set up to listen to the views of the public and provide feedback to health and care providers.

One man told the forum the area was seeing “more and more flats and less and less services”.

He said: “There are fewer surgeries than we had before the flats were built. There are more flats being built round this part of the borough, and we don’t have the facilities to cover it.”

Ms Ahmed said the NHS was trying to recruit GPs from other countries due to a shortage of workers in London.

She added: “More GPs are retiring and seem to be leaving at the same time.

“What is happening is there are no GPs to replace them, so sometimes patients have to go to their ‘next-door GP’ – but that may not be next door.”

Cllr Yasemin Brett (Labour) said a planning application had been submitted for a doctors’ surgery on land owned by Notting Hill Genesis at the corner of Green Lanes.

But she added Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group “had not done their side of the deal” and the development was being held up.

Cllr Brett said there was a “huge need” for GPs in the area and suggested meeting with the new North Central London Joint Commissioning Committee to discuss the situation.

Ms Ahmed added health officials were trying to ease the pressure on GPs by directing people with less serious conditions to pharmacists and the 911 service.

She added the public was also being encouraged to see using accident and emergency units as a “last resort”.

Ms Ahmed said: “I think there is something about all of us trying to be more responsible in terms of how we access services.”

NHS figures published last year revealed that in October nearly one in five patients had to wait at least 15 days to see a GP in England.

Meanwhile, just over 40 per cent of appointments took place on the day they were booked.

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