Dear Residents,
You may have seen the front page of the Folkestone Herald this week headlining the closure of a Folkestone Surgery. It has been brought to our notice that Damian Collins would reassess the closure AFTER the election. In an email to the Folkestone Herald, Stephen Priestley has set out his views with a highlighted paragraph on Damian Collins' position.
Irrespective of any political allegiance, this pragmatic approach to a worsening situation across Shepway should be applauded, and one which, we believe, other election candidates would also support.
Dear Amy,
Many thanks for your email.
Our local UKIP group have convened an emergency meeting to take place this Saturday afternoon, so that a forensic approach can be taken to this problem, and how best it should be tackled going forward. I will be delighted to provide you with a further very detailed response, once this meeting has taken place, however, in the interim, as the problems are so urgent, I will reply more briefly, ahead of Saturday'smeeting, so that you are able to take this matter forward according to your own time frames.
The first thing I would like to say is that my professional background of working in secondary mental health services within the NHS for over 20 years gives me a unique vantage point from which to respond.
GPs across Folkestone and Hythe are under colossal stress and they receive less funding than in Ashford and other areas, even though their patients frequently face greater social deprivation and co-morbid conditions such as drug and alcohol problems, so their needs are often more complex and require robust and timely responses.
There is a great deal of concern about the GP surgery provision in the constituency and that services are at crisis point. I know that many patients will present at A+E departments if they can't see their GP. The same applies to those with physical problems. The delay in seeing your GP in primary care can lead to serious illnesses being diagnosed very late, when conditions have already progressed to serious acute crisis. This then creates increased pressures and a domino effect - I have seen many mental health patients being admitted to psychiatric hospital, and in some cases the outcomes are far worse than if a timely intervention had been available in the first place. The same applies to those with physical health problems: acute admissions occur as the health of patients have deteriorated to a point where treatment in the community is no longer a viable option. So from the perspective of patients, the closure of a GP surgery is a very serious blow. Often GPs have built up relationships with patients over a long period of time, and no longer seeing that dedicated health professional will be a major loss!
Primary care are the gate-keepers to secondary care services and inpatient care for patients, and they play such a crucial healthcare role. GP practices in Folkestone and Hythe need to be given the financial resources to function effectively, and GPs should not have to carry out their vital gatekeeping role in an environment of inadequate resources. The current funding formula which calculates the money GP surgeries receive is inherently unfair, and if elected, I would be campaigning fiercely to see that this is immediately reviewed for all GP surgeries across the constituency, and that greater funding is released as quickly as possible.
In some GP surgeries, there are insufficient GPs and there is a large dependence on Locum GPs, who charge higher rates of pay. The above problems require urgent attention at the highest levels of government, so that adequate funding levels are in place, that GPs are properly supported, that there are adequate numbers of GPs wishing to enter into primary care, and that their jobs are attractive enough for them to wish to remain in the profession, rather than seek to leave for better working conditions elsewhere!
GPs are the bedrock of the NHS, and it is disingenuous and meretricious of MP Damian Collins to suggest that if reelected the position of Folkestone East Surgery will be 'reassessed and investment will follow.' This does not inspire confidence, given the current situation. MP Damian Collins should in my view have taken robust action at a far earlier stage. Perhaps then Folkestone East Surgery would not have reached the point where closing is the only viable option. Furthermore, why has nothing been done to seek improved GP funding for Folkestone and Hythe's patients, knowing that many face greater social deprivation than in other parts of Kent?
Urgent action is required to address the capacity of GP surgeries to adequately cater for ALL its residents across Folkestone and Hythe, and I would respectfully suggest that Shepway District Council should fulfil its duty of care to its existing citizens, prior to going forward with the Otterpool project that would boost the Shepway population by 41 per cent!
In summary, my priorities if elected would be to garner at the earliest opportunity increased funding for GP surgeries across the constituency via consultation with all key stakeholders. I would also seek to meet regularly with GP practices across Folkestone and Hythe, to discuss key issues such as GP training and retention, and work towards the longer term objective of making the prospect of working as a GP in our constituency an attractive prospect, so that primary care physicians feel committed and supported to working with our residents for long periods of time, and to end the dependence on Locum GPs as quickly as possible.
Stephen Priestley
UKIP Parliamentary Candidate
Folkestone and Hythe Constituency
