Town council calls for rethink over GP services in Biggleswade amid concerns people put off seeking care
Residents in Biggleswade may be avoiding visiting their GP for fear of being sent for a blood test in Bedford or Stevenage, a meeting heard.
Council officers wrote to the local GP surgeries last month to make them aware of the comments made by the BLMK integrated care board (ICB) at a recent Central Bedfordshire Council Biggleswade joint committee meeting.
Reacting to the ICB’s written replies to the town council, former mayor Mark Foster said: “This response is more transparent than I thought it might be.
“There’s plenty of information which might not have been in the public domain before.”
Town councillor Mark Knight warned: “I’m quite scared people are being sent to Stevenage or Bedford to get blood tests.
“Diagnostic tests are required almost every occasion you visit your GP. I fear people are choosing not to see their doctor because they don’t want to be told they need a blood test and then have to get themselves to Stevenage.
“I heard one case where the GP backed down and said ‘okay, you can have it here’, so they clearly have the capability but are choosing to send people to Stevenage or Bedford.
“The other issue is we’ve gone from a phone call queue to a web queue. I’m aware of repeated incidents where you try to get an online booking request and you’re confronted with ‘sorry, we’ve no more available slots today’ or even worse you get a ‘404’ error because the website is overwhelmed.
“So it’s a fundamental problem accessing the service. Not everyone can get on the web at 9am because they’re at work. There’s a whole set of disadvantaged people.
“We need a structured way to go through the issues this community is having in a formal way, and communicate them back to the ICB.”
Deputy mayor Gary Barrett suggested Biggleswade “is losing out because of the way financial decisions are being made are working around geographical locations within the county”, calling for “a rethink by the ICB on its service provisions” locally.
Town councillor Jo Jones was disappointed to note that the ICB has spotted an opportunity for better provision for pharmacies, especially after 5.30pm on Saturdays and on Sundays, but “it remains an area for potential exploration, rather than a plan”.
Recent changes to the website are working well after improvements, she explained, acknowledging “that doesn’t work for everyone” and adding that “residents can get online at 8am” for the surgery she uses.
Town councillor Duncan Strachan said: “It would be useful to have an update from the local surgeries to see how things are progressing, particularly as the extension to the Ivel Medical Centre is for two or three years more.
“That at least is giving some sign of permanence, when it was only a short-term contract initially. Perhaps we could arrange a meeting with the surgeries, other health bodies and our MP.”
Mayor Jonathan Woodhead confirmed the town council “has reached out” to the surgeries, saying: “Hopefully we’ll hear back from them soon, otherwise we’ll chase them in the next week.
“People will recognise going to Bedford or St Neots to get a prescription on a Sunday. It’s just absurd when there are three or four pharmacies in the town.”