Save our Surgeries SOS

Cllr Brian Mathew, Wiltshire Councillor for Box and Colerne:

“Last year I surveyed a range of community facilities in both Box and Colerne. In Colerne there was nothing but praise for its GP practices. I have been in touch with Dr Richard Greenway over the fears of closure of the Three Shires Medical Practice. The idea behind this petition is not in any way party political, it is to garner support for the Three Shires Medical Practice from its clients and beyond, because the pressures that it is facing are common to GP surgeries across rural England. Please click on the link below, read, and if you are willing, sign and share. There is no data trawling going on here, that is why I have put it up on the 'Change.org' platform. Once we get a good number of signatures, we will send it to the three politicians mentioned in the first paragraph of the Petition. Let's do this!"

Petition · SAVE OUR SURGERIES! - United Kingdom · Change.org

PETITION

We the undersigned call on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Victoria Atkins MP, as well as the Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting MP, and the Liberal Democrat Health, Wellbeing and Social Care Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP, to take note of the plight of the Three Shires Medical Practice, at Colerne, Marshfield, Wick and Pucklechurch, and many other GP surgeries especially in rural locations across England and ensure adequate financial provision is made for their continued operation. 

In the face of wage increases and rising costs, while cuts are being made by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) to non-statutory services such as: ECG, physio, complex leg dressings, spirometry, the situation is fast becoming untenable.

Rural GP services offer a way for residents to continue to live in the homes they love, while receiving the health care they need. Cuts to these services are counterproductive, leading to an increased need for hospitalisation, resulting in bed blocking, misery and a collapse of hospital capacity to take in patients when they most need to be cared for.