Petition calling for urgent care walk-in centre in Biggleswade, Sandy and Potton attracts over 1k signatures already

An online petition is calling for an urgent care walk-in centre for Biggleswade, Sandy and Potton.

Launched on Friday (November 18), the campaign has already attracted over 1,200 signatures on the Change.Org website, as residents agree that access to healthcare needs to be "urgently improved". The petition calls for Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) and the Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (BLMK ICB) to take action.

The council and ICB stated that they are “continuing to work together” to ensure “equitable access for all residents.”

Petition founder, Mollie Smy, claimed: "First of all, I want to say that I don't regard this as my petition; this is about the local people that live in the community. You know as well as I do how big this town is growing; basic common sense says we're going to come to a point where something serious is going to go wrong. Everyone in town is moaning about the lack of access to GPs, but it seems to fall on deaf ears."

The petition claims that patients who cannot get an appointment locally have to go to Bedford to access a walk-in clinic "in excess of 30 minutes drive from Biggleswade" or via an expensive taxi.

Mollie concluded: "I don't want those in power to just 'take note' of the petition. We want something done about it!"

Independent Central Bedfordshire Councillor, Steven Watkins, said that a walk-in centre was “desperately needed” at Biggleswade continues to grow.

Paper copies of the petition can be signed at Millers Coffee House; Kleen-Eco Biggleswade; Preen Community Interest Company; Sweet Alley Of Biggleswade; Red Kite Art and Framing; Surfin Cafe Biggleswade; Sellers and Lettors; Camerons Newsagents – Potton.

A CBC spokesman said: “We are continuing to work with BLMK ICB to ensure equitable access to services for all our residents. This includes working together to facilitate the development of health and care premises to meet the needs of current and future populations.

"The aspiration for an integrated health and care hub remains and whilst the council has set aside some capital within its medium-term financial plan to facilitate this initiative, the responsibility for health care premises rests with the ICB, which recognises that developments in health care provision and estates requires a planned and phased approach. Consequently, the ICB is developing a prioritisation criterion to inform decision making on premises pressures and use of resources.”

A spokesman for BLMK ICB, said: “We are working closely with CBC and all health and care partners to provide services to support our residents to live healthy lives in Biggleswade, Sandy, Potton and surrounding areas. We are currently undertaking a review to ensure that we are making best use of health and care premises locally within a constrained financial environment for the public sector.

"We are also implementing the recommendations of the national Fuller Stocktake Report (2022) to transform how we deliver primary care, including improving same day urgent care for patients. This includes teams working in new, more collaborative ways, supported by greater use of digital technology, plus closer working with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.”