MP calls for more health services in Leighton Buzzard

An MP has said more health services need to be provided in a town that has seen thousands of new homes built.

Conservative MP for South West Bedfordshire Andrew Selous will attend a meeting later regarding the future of health services in Leighton Buzzard.

Mr Selous said 15,000 new people had moved to the town in the past 20 years and facilities could not meet demand.

Central Bedfordshire Council said it wanted to "enable the provision" of health services locally.

In January, the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board decided to drop plans to build a health hub and a fourth GP practice in Leighton Buzzard.

Mr Selous said he was "upset" by the decision as more facilities were "desperately needed".

Felicity Cox, chief executive of the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, said it was seeking additional GPs for the areas but a national shortage was "one issue".

Ms Cox said across the three areas, the care board had recruited 25 additional GPs since 2019.

"We did have a developer offer us a parcel of land to build a GP practice on but unfortunately we have no capital or revenue to cover that," she said.

Ms Cox said the board had to "prioritise" its expenditure and Leighton Buzzard was not the area with the highest growth in its patch.

She said the board was working with partner agencies to look at how they could develop healthcare services in the area.

Edith Griffith is the chairwoman of patient participation groups in Leighton Buzzard.

The 73-year-old said it was "extremely difficult" to get a GP appointment in the town.

"It's taking six weeks at the moment, before Christmas it was seven," she said.

"We've got an amazing doctors surgery with great people who work really hard but they're under extreme pressure."

Ms Griffith said the area had seen "a huge amount of building" with "more yet to come".

"I'm not sure what the plan is," she said.

"We have nothing extra for all these thousands of houses, so I'm not sure how they think it's going to work."

Ms Griffith said residents were having to travel to Luton, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Bedford and High Wycombe for some appointments.

"What we need is a health hub or a medical centre in Leighton Buzzard which has services for our community," she said.

"If people can't get a GP appointment, they go downhill and they become hospital cases."

Josh Best said the town needed more infrastructure.

"Leighton Buzzard is just overpopulated," the 23-year-old said.

"The infrastructure is not built for it and the GP surgeries are overly busy.

"If you want an appointment you can't get one.

"They do it all via online appointments now and last time I looked it was booked up for at least three months.

"They're building houses everywhere and there's nothing to go with it."

David Taylor has lived in Leighton Buzzard for nine years.

"When we came here there were three of four GP surgeries and it was adequate," he said.

"Since then the town has grown substantially and no additional GP facilities have been available."

The leader of Central Bedfordshire Council, Richard Wenham, said: "We have long shared an ambition with our NHS providers to deliver several health and care hubs to enable the provision of more GP services and other health and care services locally.

Mr Wenham said the council hoped to build a health hub in the area but it "cannot provide the GPs and other health professionals, only the health service can do this"

"It is imperative that the provision of primary care services grows at a similar rate to meet the needs of current and new communities," he said

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