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Labour's NHS reforms risk shutting village GP surgeries and forcing rural patients to travel further, report warns

A GP consulting with a patient. Labour's NHS reforms risk closing village surgeries, with rural communities facing higher costs to access care, a report warns.
A GP consulting with a patient. Labour's NHS reforms risk closing village surgeries, with rural communities facing higher costs to access care, a report warns.

A Policy Exchange report, championed by former health secretary Sir Jeremy Hunt, contends that Labour's 10-year NHS plan has been designed with urban populations in mind and could trigger GP surgery closures across rural England. The think tank identifies 116 constituencies — roughly one in five English seats — as suffering a 'rural penalty', because funding and workforce policies fail to reflect the higher cost of delivering care to scattered rural communities. Wes Streeting's neighbourhood health model centres on population units of 50,000, a scale that fits dense cities but risks pushing village patients towards distant health hubs. England has lost around 1,000 GP practices over the past eight years.

Policy Exchange warns that rural and coastal areas have 15 per cent fewer medical consultants than cities.

Isle of Wight East MP Joe Robertson, a report co-author, said consolidating surgeries would be 'a curious way of bringing care closer to home.'

The report warns the plan risks creating an 'increasing divide' between rural and urban NHS access.

MoreThe TelegraphVillage GP surgeries will be shut under Labour’s NHS reformsDaily MailEngland's 'rural penalty' of lower NHS funding and fewer doctorsLondon Business NewsLabour’s NHS shake-up risks wiping out village GP surgeries - London Business NewsGB NewsVillage GP surgeries could be shut under Labour's NHS reforms as cities prioritised
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