A&E units, GP surgeries and walk-in centres to close as cash crisis bites
I suspect a number of these facilities will be in smaller settlements and many will serve rural hinterlands. In Scotland the Arbuthnot formula allocates around 7% extra funding to rural health settings to recognise the impact rurality has on health inequalities.. We have no such approach in England and in the faces of stories like this rural communities will be all the poorer for that lack of effective rural proofing. This story tells us:
Dozens of A&E units, GP surgeries and walk-in centres have been earmarked for closure because of the NHS’s money problems, understaffing and modernisation plan, a new report reveals on Wednesday.
NHS bodies have decided in the last four months alone to shut or downgrade at least 70 services across England, the campaign group 38 Degrees has found.
They include maternity units and a raft of community hospitals. The latter are meant to take the pressure off acute hospitals, which often struggle under the weight of patient demand.