A south Cumbrian MP has taken to the House of Commons to call for ministerial intervention to save a Lake District GP surgery from closing.
Tim Farron, the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, took to the Commons chamber to pressure Stephen Kinnock, the Minister of State for Care, to step in to help save Coniston GP surgery.
It comes after Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (LSCICB) said last month that there were no bids to take on the surgery.
The practice’s previous GPs retired last year, meaning the surgery has since been run by a caretaker service.
However, if the vacancy remains permanently unfilled, the surgery could be lost altogether.
“There is an answer [to the current situation],” said Mr Farron, addressing fellow MPs, “and I want to ask the Minister whether he might intervene and talk to the ICB to help us to get there.
“If the dispensing contract were to be let jointly with the GP contract, that would make it viable, and I know of GPs who would be interested if that were to happen.
“Will he [Mr Kinnock] talk to the ICB to ensure that that flexibility is applied so that we can save the surgery in Coniston for the next 200 years?”
Mr Farron has also written to Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, to ask the same questions, it is understood.
However, in response to the question asked in the Commons by the Westmorland MP, Mr Kinnock thanked Mr Farron but fell short of making any concrete promises over the proposal that had been set out.
The Minister of State did say that the permanent closure of Coniston GP surgery ‘would be deeply troubling’.
This is because he believed it is ‘an important service to the community’.
“I would certainly be happy to speak to him [Mr Farron],” added Mr Kinnock, “perhaps he [Mr Farron] would like to write to me to provide more details.”
The Minister said once he had more information on the matter, he was sure the government could ‘look into’ Mr Farron’s proposals for trying to find a bid for the Coniston surgery.
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