Hundreds of villages lose their GP surgery as crisis grows across country
Laura Donnelly of the Telegraph has a really sharp and valuable interest in rural health and care. I’m really pleased she has highlighted the issues below. Her latest article tells us:
Hundreds of villages have lost their GP surgery amid a deepening crisis across the country, an investigation reveals.
Experts said rural and coastal areas were being hit particularly hard by a national shortage of family doctors, forcing elderly and vulnerable patients to travel ever further for care.
The figures reveal 1,946 villages which are at least three miles from the nearest GP practice – 162 more than was the case just two years ago.
They include 206 areas where patients are forced to travel at least five miles – a 12 per cent increase on 2017 – with distances of up to 14 miles in some parts of the countryside.