Moray MP Douglas Ross has welcomed a “constructive and positive” meeting with local campaigners who are keen to save GP practices in the villages of Hopeman and Burghead in his constituency.
Douglas met with campaigners on Friday to discuss how best to support patients going forward who rely on being able to access these surgeries for their healthcare needs, but are staring down the prospect of them never re-opening.
Douglas firmly agrees with campaigners that the ideal outcome would be for both surgeries to remain open, but the current compromise plan is to explore how a surgery can remain open in Burghead.
A number of issues were discussed at the meeting, including what the Scottish Government have termed 20-minute neighbourhoods. This means that people should be able to access their day-to-day needs within 20 minutes, whether by walking or having safe access to public transport, but that is no longer the reality for patients living in Burghead and Hopeman.
Douglas says the closure of the village practices only exacerbates the pressures being felt at other practices in Moray including in Elgin, Forres and Lossiemouth that are already near to, or at capacity.
He is set to follow-up on the meeting by writing to SNP health secretary Humza Yousaf about the closure of the surgeries, while he is also seeking a meeting as soon as possible with NHS Grampian and the practice manager at Lossiemouth.
Douglas says he will continue to work closely with all campaigners and push the SNP government and the health board into finding a “positive solution” that ensures access to GP services for villagers in Moray.
Moray MP Douglas Ross said: “This was a welcome opportunity to meet with local campaigners who are determined to save and protect local GP surgeries in Hopeman and Burghead.
“They are working tirelessly to ensure that their fellow local residents can easily access vital healthcare services in their own community. That is proving increasingly difficult to achieve in rural and remote areas such as these Moray villages.
“While the ideal outcome would be for both GP surgeries to stay open, that is extremely challenging in the current climate. However, campaigners have made it clear that they are willing to compromise and explore the possibility of a surgery at least being open at Burghead in the meantime.
“That was just one of the constructive ideas that came out of this positive meeting with campaigners. Other GP practices in the area are already overwhelmed and the permanent closure of these surgeries will only exacerbate that.
“We need to find a positive solution for patients in Hopeman and Burghead. The SNP government are continuing to talk up 20-minute neighbourhoods where local people should be able to access their day-to-day needs within a 20-minute radius. That simply is not possible in these villages.
“Local people are sick and tired of feeling that vital public services are being taken away from them and their community. I am raising this with Humza Yousaf and hope to also arrange meetings as soon as possible with Lossiemouth’s practice manager and the health board.
“I am determined to work closely with local campaigners and ensure that the healthcare needs of those living in Moray’s remote and rural areas are not forgotten about.”
