No waiting list for GP surgeries in district, say health bosses

Health bosses have said there is 'no waiting list' for registering with a GP in the Wakefield district.

It comes after it was claimed that one woman had been unable to sign up to a surgery having lived in the area for more than a year.

The issue was raised at a health and wellbeing board meeting on Thursday last week, where the future of general practice in Wakefield was being discussed.

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Questioning the level of capacity in the district, Coun Richard Forster said: “A friend of our daughter’s moved into Castleford from outside of the district 13 months ago and she’s still not been able to get onto the general practice list.

Speaking about the level of medical provision in the area, he added: “A while ago we were meant to be building a big medical centre in Castleford to accommodate all these GPs but we’re no further on with that and it comes back to the issue of funding.”

“This isn’t just happening in Castleford, it’s happening everywhere in the district.”

But the chair of Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Dr Phil Earnshaw disputed his claim, saying it was not difficult to be registered with a surgery.

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He said: “I don’t understand how anyone can’t get onto a GP list. There is no waiting list. That’s the actual state of play.

“There is no-one on any waiting list for GP surgeries in Wakefield.”

The CCG covers 38 doctor’s surgeries in the district, serving 360,000 people.

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