Rishi has welcomed significant progress in keeping a GP service in Reeth.
He said the last 36 hours had produced a possible solution to the problem of the Reeth Medical Centre closing at the end of May when the current GP retires.
The potential solution involves the neighbouring Central Dales Practice, based at Hawes and Aysgarth, operating Reeth as a branch surgery.
The proposal was revealed to Rishi at a meeting he had with regional health officials on Thursday evening.
Yesterday, at a briefing for stakeholders, including local Cllr Yvonne Peacock, it was confirmed that the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board was awaiting a business plan from the Central Dales Practice which would mean a GP service would be maintained in Swaledale.
It would operate on a temporary basis from the existing premises – owned by the retiring doctor – while alternative locations were investigated.
Rishi said: “We have come a long way since being told the centre would have to close at the end of May and that patients would have to travel to Hawes, Aysgarth, Leyburn or Richmond to see a doctor.
He added: “I urged the ICB to work harder to find a solution and it appears we could now have one.”
Rishi praised the work of the Central Dales Practice managing partner Lynn Irwin and the local primary care network – other local GP practices in Richmondshire – for working together on the plan.
Key to that plan is the Central Dales team being supported by the other practices to deliver the service, which include the dispensing of prescriptions.
Rishi said the ICB had told him that following the submission of a viable business plan, the new arrangements could be approved and in place by the time Dr Mike Brooks and his wife, Marie the practice manager, step down.
“But it is not a done deal,” he said. “We do not know all the details of the service that would be provided and I shall remain in close contact with the ICB and the other parties.
“I want to thank all the parties involved in working towards a solution and also the local community which has made its voice heard very clearly to help ensure the service they value so much is maintained in some form.”
“In my exchanges with the ICB over the past fortnight, it has been really important that the local community was four-square behind all our efforts to persuade the ICB that what seemed to be a fait accompli on their part was not acceptable.”
Cllr Peacock also welcomed the developments. She said: “We have a way to go yet but we have definitely made progress. The local community has been superb in offering practical support and I know we have the capacity to help make any new arrangement work in everybody’s best interests.”
She thanked all the members of the community and the six parish councils in Swaledale for their continuing efforts and Rishi for his intervention.
