Liberal Democrats demand action as Conservatives admit GP surgeries “a long way off”

There was disappointment on GP surgeries at the Executive meeting on 16th October as the Conservative Portfolio Holder admitted that “Spades in the ground are a long way off” despite promises to residents and parishes.

Plans in place for surgeries were ditched under the Conservative Government in January 2023. And despite being in charge since May 2023, the Conservative Mayor seemed desperate to try to blame others for the lack of action.

Despite a successful Liberal Democrat amendment, seconded by Labour, to put £9 million for GP surgeries back into the Capital programme, residents are no closer to realising new GP surgeries at Wootton, Kempston, Wixams or Great Barford.

Cllr Henry Vann, leader of Bedford Borough Liberal Democrats, challenged the lack of action saying:

“You have been in power for almost 17 months and have precious little to show for it. This isn't just ‘a long and complicated process’ [minutes of last executive meeting] this is a real disappointment and a let down for residents.”

“Officers of the Council have been pushing the ICB [Integrated Care Board] hard behind the scenes but GP surgeries need to be prioritised by the politicians. They need to stop alternating between hand wringing and making false promises and redouble their efforts to relieve the acute pressure on primary care across the Borough.”

Despite the Conservative Portfolio holder saying, ‘Spades in the ground is a long way off,’ for GP surgeries, Executive members congratulated themselves on a report that had no timelines at all.

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Notes on individual sites

Residents have been given false hope by this administration.  At Wootton’s Parish Council, villagers were told that clearing works had begun. However, the Executive report presented on Wednesday read: ‘As it stands, the project would require significant revenue investment from the ICB which is not available at this time.’

 Wixams residents were told in May that ‘the money for the Wixams surgery is there’, but the Executive report read: ‘CBC (Central Bedfordshire Council) have secured significant sums of S106 funding for the Wixams South developments which will help to deliver a facility, but this funding is unlikely to be available for a number of years’. 

Executive heard that Council officers meet monthly to discuss strategy for Wootton, Great Barford and Kempston surgeries, and a subgroup meets once every three weeks to focus on operational issues. However, there was no indication that anyone is meeting regularly at any time to progress the surgery project in Wixams. 

(Public Pack)Agenda Document for Executive, 16/10/2024 18:30 (bedford.gov.uk)