Highland community battles to save two local GP surgeries

The surgeries in Hopeman and Burghead in Moray have been closed since the coronavirus pandemic, meaning patients have to travel to Lossiemouth for treatment.

With no direct bus link, many residents face up to a four-hour round-trip for a simple ten-minute consultation.

With talks at a standstill, the two surgeries look like they are set to be closed permanently. 

“It's really complicated, It's really frustrating – I've never seen a situation like this before,” said Ness Tunggal, a spokesperson for Save our Surgeries (SoS) – a local campaign group.

“People are struggling and some of us have even given up trying to see doctors, to seek medical care, which is worrying.”

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf to campaign in Dundee as part of summer of independence

She added: “Where things stand, the [practice manager] is basically saying there is no way the two surgeries are coming back, not even one of them.

“The reason given was that a practice is a business. That's the term they used – business. They said they need to look at their own sustainability, and the sustainability of the service provision and that they can’t manage with the resources they have.”

The group are now looking to pursue the matter with NHS Grampian, Moray Council and even possibly taking it to Holyrood.

“The people we need to talk to and be made accountable for this situation would be NHS Grampian and the council through the Moray Integration Joint Board (MIJB).

“It is their mandate to provide access to primary health care closer to home, that's the mandate given by the Scottish Government to the NHS. This is their responsibility and they need to do something about it.”

One of those impacted by the closures is 59-year-old Elizabeth (not her real name), who has bipolar disorder. While she does have a car, she can’t always drive.

“Having a surgery closer is just so crucial because my ability to leave the house varies from week to week.

“Just being able to just go locally and just have a short walk to the surgery is much less of a thought when you're feeling unwell than it is to have to contemplate two buses to get there and being out for half a day – because that's what it amounts to.

“There are a lot of people with mental health conditions locally. I have friends who have severe anxiety and can't leave the house unless somebody comes and meets them.

“I have a friend with schizotypal disorder who would be sick on the buses because she is so anxious.

“It's a lot of worry. Just talking about it, I feel almost tearful.”

Save our Surgeries are looking into a potential solution whereby they engage the community, acquire a location for a surgery and find a doctor who would be able to come and run it for them.

Tunggal added: “But this shouldn't be privatized, it should still be under contract from NHS Grampian.

“We’re basically just doing the job for them, and then saying that we’ve found a solution, now do what you should have done and fund it.”

“I think that the way the community has been treated is outrageous, without a shadow of a doubt,” local SNP councillor Neil Cameron told The Sunday National.

He added: “If the local community could pull together and get some sort of package together where they actually had a doctor working separately, that could be the solution.”

READ MORE: Will there still be an NHS in another 75 years?

But Cameron added that he thinks they’ve reached a stage where the MIJB and NHS Grampian won’t budge.

He said: “To an extent, I do have a certain amount of sympathy with the practice. They're struggling to get doctors, they're struggling to get staff, they're struggling to get people to work in Lossiemouth.”

While ideally the community won’t need to go down the private route, he added: “If that's what it's gonna take then perhaps that's what needs to happen.”

“I do wonder going forward if the NHS nationally, or certainly GP practices – if this is something that we should be considering as a national priority, as party policy."

A spokesperson for NHS Grampian said: "The Moray Integration Joint Board was presented with a comprehensive case, setting out all the public consultation and engagement carried out over a period of 16 months.

"The Health & Social Care Partnership and Moray Coast Medical Practice facilitated 8 public events and visited a number of local community groups during the engagement and consultation process prior to the final report being presented to the Moray IJB.

"The Integration Joint Board gave full consideration to the case and gave clear direction to officers as to their expectation on how we must continue to work on those elements of most importance to the Burghead and Hopeman communities, including good transport; links for medical appointments and the access to local health and care services, and making full use of technology.

"These are all priorities contained within the Forres and Lossiemouth Locality Plan 2023 – 2026. The Integration Joint Board will receive regular updates on this matter.

"The Health & Social Care Partnership and Moray Coast Medical Practice continues to engage fully with the locality planning process with the aim of developing service provision across Lossiemouth town and coastal village communities.

"The locality planning process is overseen by a local oversight group which contains both community and practitioner representation. Plans are in place for further community engagement on the priorities contained within the locality plan."

Asked to comment on the closures, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are clear that patients who need to see a GP should always be seen.

“We have already delivered a record number of GPs working in Scotland, with more per head than any other country in the UK, and we are making good progress on our commitment to recruit at least 800 new GPs by 2027. Since 2017, Scotland’s GP headcount has increased by 291 to a record high of 5,209 in 2022.

“To support GPs, we have recruited over 3,220 whole-time equivalent healthcare professionals into multi-disciplinary teams. We are committed to investing £170 million a year to help grow these teams and to further increase the number of GPs in Scotland.

“A £20,000 bursary is offered as an incentive to GPs to increase rural and other hard to fill vacancies and trainee recruitment last year was the most successful year of any of the last five, with 99% of GP training posts filled.”

The Moray Integration Joint Board and NHS Grampian have been contacted for comment.