Three out of five GP practices to close in crisis town

Bridlington in East Riding of Yorkshire is set to see the closure of three of its five GP practices, with the remaining two to register all patients.

Currently, three of the GP practices – which all form part of the five-practice strong Bridlington PCN – operate on APMS contracts due to expire in March 2023.

However the providers have decided not to renew them, and the ICB does not intend to seek new contractors.

GP practices in the Yorkshire coastal town have notoriously struggled to retain and recruit new staff, ultimately resulting in most surgeries adopting APMS contracts.

Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) told Pulse these contracts were causing ‘uncertainty’ in the system, with the practices ‘struggling to move on with the Network DES’ because they are too focused on ‘day-to-day survival’.

An ICB spokesperson said: ‘Like many parts of the NHS over the past few years, Bridlington has experienced challenges recruiting and retaining staff and has seen a reduction in clinical and administrative staff employed by those providers delivering primary care services.

‘In addition, there has been an increase in the number of GP appointments and general workload in primary care. This, in turn, has put the current providers under significant pressure and has meant that opportunities for maximising patient experience haven’t been fully utilised.’

Moving to just two practices in the town will reduce ‘complexity’ in the system and concentrate staff, they added.

Meanwhile, the PCN hopes the shift to two larger practices – Humber Primary Care and Practice Three, which will each serve around 19,000 patients – will help improve retention by offering staff greater career development opportunities.

Dr Priya Reddy, clinical director for the PCN based in Practice Three, said it should also help embed multidisciplinary ways of working, including staff hired under the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS).

She said: ‘The idea of having a larger practice is to embed that way of working in the system. But you can’t do that easily without a larger team. You need a pyramid structure with one GP at the top and lots of members of the team, including those hired via the ARRS,’ she said.

She added that ‘that system simply doesn’t work’ in smaller practices, and requires a larger team.

NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB said the consolidation plans were being driven by local GPs.

Will Uglow, primary care lead for the ICB’s East Riding place, said: ‘Practices are struggling day-to-day to get by, so we see this as a stake-in-the-ground moment, because it can’t continue. This new direction is being driven by the primary care in the town itself.’

He said that clinicians are ‘prepared to stay on longer’ with just ‘one way of working in the town’.

He added that their training practice – Practice Three, which will remain open – has previously struggled to offer opportunities to trainees as they are fully doctored.

Mr Uglow said: ‘What we want to do in Bridlington is to have fewer but larger practices that give all clinical staff mentorship and leadership opportunities and some greater assurance in the work they’re doing.’

In 2018, Bridlington was one of many areas denied Estates and Technology Transformation Fund (ETTF), causing plans to develop new premises to be scrapped.

Bridlington GP shortages had also left practices forced to close their patient lists in 2016.

A Pulse investigation last year revealed that 800 GP practices have closed since 2013.

Further, our recent Lost Practices investigation found that at least 474 surgeries across the UK have folded with no replacement, with the impact felt by 1.5 million patients.