West Berks and Hampshire GP says funding cut is a ‘threat’

Dr Colin West told the Newbury Weekly News that he initially wrote to the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, in January with concerns about Government plans to phase out funding supplied to GP surgeries from 2014, under the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG).
Introduced in 2004, MPIG was used to top up the core funding of GP practices and was, said Dr West, ‘A significant part of funding,’ to doctors surgeries across the country.
Different practices, he continued, received different amounts and MPIG was not specific to rural practices.
However the two practices, at separate sites in Woolton Hill and Kintbury covered a very large area south west of Newbury, with a total 7,900 patients and six GPs plus one (registrar) GP in training:
“Our running expenses are slightly higher as we operate from two sites and without MPIG payment it’s placing a threat on our ability to provide care which is as accessible as it is at the moment,” said Dr West.
Branch surgeries – the majority of which were in rural areas – he continued, were likely to be affected, therefore it was a rural issue.
Dr West said he wrote to Mr Hunt to say the cuts would jeopardise GP’s ability to provide the high quality community-based care their patients deserved.
After receiving letters back saying the Government intended to proceed with the planned phasing out of the funding, Dr West said he was disappointed with the response and had written a further letter to health service watchdog, NHS England and was awaiting a reply.
On whether the cuts might force a merger of the Kintbury and Woolton Hill practices into one site, to reduce operational costs, or impact on GP services, Dr West said it was too early to speculate.
Do you have a viewpoint on the Government plans to reduce MPIG funding to GP surgeries and how this might impact on local GP services?
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