Biggleswade health hub would not have been 'a magic bullet' to solve town's GP and health problems

Questions have been raised about whether a health hub for Biggleswade would have been able to push past "NHS bureaucracy" or solve the town's "considerable GP and health problems".

An extraordinary meeting of the Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (BLMK ICB) yesterday (January 11) saw the Ivel Valley site listed as "not affordable to progress at this stage”. Plans had included the relocation of up to two GP practices into a hub, with Biggleswade Hospital the suggested location.

Biggleswade mayor, Grant Fage, said: "The health hub was unlikely ever to be a silver bullet for Biggleswade's considerable GP and health problems. I've long argued that any health hub had to be an addition to existing services, not just a cut and paste of current services in a shinier building. The main cause of Biggleswade's problems is the national shortage of GPs – medical students are not going in to general practice in the required numbers. The risk with the hub was always having the same problem, just in a different space."

NHS Digital figures show there were 525 full-time equivalent GPs in the former NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes CCG area in November. But of these, 121 were in training.

Cllr Fage continued: "Had the decision gone Biggleswade's way, at least we could have started those discussions properly about what would be included in the facility and how we could make it a net gain for residents."

Richard Fuller, MP for North East Bedfordshire, said: “Of the £2bn pa budget for local healthcare that is given to the local care board to manage, only about 10 per cent goes on GP and other primary care services with the bulk of monies going to hospitals and for mental health provision.

“The board stated yesterday that their capital budget this year for the improvement to local GP facilities was less than £2m. I appreciate that £2m is a considerable sum, but in the context of the 20-year challenge of GP capacity falling behind the growth in housing and patients on roll, this amount is ludicrously short of what might be expected. Yet it seems the local board’s hands are tied in their ability to move their budget around to meet local needs."

He added that he spoke with Richard Wenham, leader of Central Bedfordshire Council, who was “exasperated as CBC are raring to redevelop the Biggleswade Hospital site as a modern local health hub but are being stymied by bureaucracy at NHS estates on terms on one of the lease agreements.”

Mr Fuller added: “The board also has to take account of any increase in their annual rental costs from new or improved facilities. I see the sensible argument that 'market rent' needs to be charged but, in the context of a pressing priority to improve facilities locally, why doesn’t NHS England recognise this constraint and alleviate that cost pressure from the Board’s budget – at least for say five years?”

A spokeswoman for the BLMK ICB said: “We are continuing to work with health and care partners to develop proposals for Integrated Health and Care Hubs."