MP raises Ambleside and Hawkshead GP campaign with Health Minister

Local MP Tim Farron took his campaign to save the GP surgeries in Ambleside and Hawkshead to Parliament this week.

Tim used a Westminster Hall debate on Rural Healthcare to urge ministers to introduce a fund to support rural GP surgeries to secure the future of practices like Ambleside and Hawkshead.

The new Minister for Primary Care, Will Quince, said he was "passionate about securing access to GPs in rural and remote areas" and offered to meet with Tim to discuss the campaign.

An online petition set up by Tim calling for the two surgeries to be saved and for more funding to protect them in the future has now reached over 2,000 signatures.

Speaking during the debate, Tim said: "The Minister alludes to GP surgeries in rural areas.

"Generally speaking, they serve smaller numbers of people over much larger areas. They were supported in their sustainability by something called a minimum practice income guarantee.

"That disappeared a few years ago, leading to many closures. In Ambleside and Hawkshead in the Lake District in my constituency, some surgeries are facing potential closure because of the removal of that funding.

"Will the Minister consider introducing a specific rural surgeries subsidy fund to help ensure that surgeries in rural communities in Cumbria and elsewhere are sustainable?"

Responding, the Primary Care Minister Will Quince said: "I thank the honourable Member for his question.

"I am not going to make policy on the hoof, so I will not say yes now, but we are fast approaching the next GP contract, which will run from April 2024, so we have an opportunity to look at all these things in the round.

"I am passionate about securing access to GPs in rural and remote areas. Perhaps we can double-tag our meeting, make it twice as long and discuss that issue too. I will respond to some of the issues raised about GPs in a moment."