Our local healthcare infrastructure has been driven into the ground over the past decade, writes Blackburn MP Adnan Hussain.
On Monday, the Government announced a set of measures to mitigate the nationwide funding issues in general practice (GP).
Despite everything the Government has said, and while I commend any and all effort to confront the crisis, Blackburn’s healthcare services remain at breaking point; real change is desperately needed, and fast.
During the Government’s announcement, I raised with Stephen Kinnock, Minister for Care, the sheer scale of the situation my constituents in Blackburn face – according to the latest figures, we have one of the worst GP to patient ratios in Britain, with roughly 2,600 patients per fully-qualified GP.
While this is technically an improvement on 2024’s figures, when the ratio was well in excess of 3,000, when I speak with constituents they tell me the situation feels like it’s getting worse, not better.
This is on top of the dire state our local hospital finds itself in.
Residents of Blackburn and readers of this paper will be very well aware of the numerous systemic and ongoing crises at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, the most acute being the ‘corridor care’ crisis.
First of all, I would like to state that I am immensely proud of the tireless work of our local doctors, nurses, and all our NHS staff – healthcare crises don’t stem from a lack of care or attention on the part of caregivers, but from a lack of targeted, needs-based funding.
Our local healthcare infrastructure has been driven into the ground over the past decade-or-so, and when healthcare across the board is left in the lurch, the crises in both hospital services and general practice compound and reinforce each other in a vicious circle. For instance, a great many constituents have told me that they were forced to go to A&E because they simply couldn’t get a GP appointment in time.
This additional strain on our already faltering hospital services puts patients in a worse position, and places unnecessary burden on our already over-extended doctors, nurses, and NHS staff.
When I raised the concerns of Blackburn residents in Parliament on Monday, the Minister remarked that the Government is presently reviewing the Carr-Hill formula which determines how general practice is funded, stating that his Department is committed to changing GP funding according to need.
I certainly welcome this commitment, however I think I speak for everyone in Blackburn when I say that any review of funding formulas must address the fact that these problems aren’t new, that local healthcare has been in a state of crisis for a long time, and any additional funding must be provided with an eye to both ensuring efficient and effective general practice and to taking the burden off of our over-stretched, under-funded hospital services.
I will be following the developments of this review very closely to make sure that the government does right by us in Blackburn.
