A doctor’s surgery at the centre of a community campaign to find a new GP will not close after partners from a separate surgery stepped in to help, it has been announced.
People in the Cornish fishing village of Mevagissey launched a campaign to find a doctor to take on the running of their local practice after Dr Katherine James announced she would be handing back her contract to run the surgery in July.
Her decision came after years of trying unsuccessfully to find someone to join her as partner and help her run the surgery, which has 5,300 patients.
The “Will You Be My GP?” campaign sought to persuade a doctor to move to the picturesque village and save its patients, many of whom are elderly, from potentially having to travel long distances for medical care.
On Monday, NHS England announced that partners at Veor surgery in Camborne, 30 miles away, would add their names to the contract in Mevagissey and help run the surgery. The development has allowed Dr James to stay on.
The situation facing Mevagissey was not an unusual one for rural communities. Research by the medical website Pulse published last month found that 138 doctors’ premises shut their doors in 2018, compared with 18 in 2013.
The data suggested that smaller surgeries – those serving 5,000 or fewer patients – were the worst affected in 2018, accounting for 86% of closures. GPs told the Guardian that under-resourcing and difficulties recruiting new doctors were forcing surgeries to close.
A particular problem has been the difficulty finding GPs willing to become partners – which involves taking on the responsibility for the running of the practice. Figures by NHS England show there were 179 closures of contracts to run GP practices in 2017-18, compared with 107 the year before.
The campaign to attract new doctors to Mevagissey prompted three potential GPs to express interest. NHS England said that “none was in a position to become a partner”, but they were interested in being a salaried GP. Their information has been shared with the practice.
Nick Kaye, a pharmacist partner at Veor surgery, said his practice decided they wanted to help after seeing local TV coverage of the community’s campaign. “The communities’ response was inspiring, and we are so pleased we were able to work with Dr James to keep GP services in the heart of Mevagissey,” he said.
He added he would be working from Mevagissey half the week and that they were looking to recruit new GPs to the team.
James said: “I am really pleased that this solution has been found so that I can continue caring for the patients of Mevagissey surgery. I have been overwhelmed by the support that everyone has offered and the hard work to achieve this positive outcome for the community.”
Kim Andrews, who helped to kick start the campaign, said it was amazing that it had been so successful in such a short space of time.
She said: “One week we were saying ‘so what are we going to do?’ and a few weeks later, and following an incredible level of interest from around the world, we’re wondering which pub to celebrate in.
“We’ve already been in contact with the new partners coming in, and I’ll be honest, it was mostly about who is buying the first round.”
