Fears of 'worrying' trend amid GP practice closure

The Forest Practice, in Hyson Green, Nottingham, is set to close at the end of October

A group that represents GPs in Nottinghamshire fears practice closures could become a "worrying" trend due to "a lack of national funding".

The Forest Practice, based in the Mary Potter Centre in Hyson Green, Nottingham, announced on 16 July that it would be closing at the end of October.

The Nottinghamshire Local Medical Committee (LMC) said financial pressures were one of the issues that led to the closure, and said other practices were facing the same problem.

An NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire spokesperson said patients were being allocated to other surgeries as close to their homes as possible.

Earlier this year, the Windmill Practice in Sneinton, Nottingham, announced plans to withdraw its contract with the surgery, before a new provider stepped in.

At the time, a spokesman for the former team said their "small partnership model is not working well in this type of practice".

Michael Wright, chief executive of LMC, said both the Windmill and Forest practices had faced a "lack of national funding".

"Unfortunately, this is a national trend of GP practices becoming unviable," he said.

The LMC said it carried out a survey of all of the GPs in the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire region, to which 55% of them responded, and found that the number of GPs considering closure could be in "double figures within the next three years".

Mr Wright said: "We're in a really weird situation where we have GPs not able to get work and yet we've got practices who need GPs but they don't have the money to employ them."

Mr Wright said the LMC was in talks with local GPs to find ways to help them

He added the closure of the Forest Practice would impact surrounding practices that could have to take on a share of its 3,900 patients, and have a "domino effect" on patients.

The Mary Potter Centre also houses the Fairfields Practice and High Green medical practice, which are unaffected.

"If we keep seeing practices close, patients are going to be moving around to get their care. It's that worry for patients that you can't get the care in the time you want," Mr Wright said.

NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire said it was working through plans to reallocate patients to a practice near to where they live and said patients would not need to take any action for now.

It said patients would receive a letter confirming the details of their new practice and should, until then, continue to access the Forest Practice for their healthcare needs.

After that, patients would be able to change to a different practice near their homes, if they wished, the NHS added.

A local NHS spokesperson said: "Funding for GP practices is calculated using several different factors, including the number of registered patients.

"Practices taking on patients from the Forest Practice will therefore have their funding increased from the date the patients are registered with them."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "This government is determined to fix problems in general practice, which is critical to making the NHS fit for the future.

"We will increase the proportion of resources going into primary care over time and help address the issues GPs face.

"We will also make the future of general practice sustainable by ensuring we train thousands more GPs and shift the focus of care out of hospitals and into the community."

Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.