Top Tory questions party over upheaval in NHS

The Foreign Secretary, who is the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire, has expressed his concerns over plans to strip away funding for GP surgeries over the next seven years.

Mr Hague has now written to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to outline his fears that rural health services are “under great pressure” and pointed out that provision could be eroded further still under the biggest shake-up in the history of the NHS.

The Government will phase out a compensation payment for GP surgeries with low footfall from next year until 2021, prompting an outcry that practices in rural areas will be forced to close.

The so-called Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) is being ditched in a move which local politicians and campaigners have claimed is further undermining key services in countryside communities.

Hawes and High Abbotside Parish Council’s clerk, Ian King, contacted Mr Hague after fears are growing that a GP practice in Wensleydale could be forced to close after it is expected to lose as much as £78,000 a year when the MPIG is scrapped.

Mr King claimed the Central Dales Practice in Hawes had already had to cut the number of its family doctors from four to three as a result of the funding cuts.

He also highlighted the proposed overhaul of maternity and paediatric services at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton which has provoked a wave of opposition.

The Health Secretary announced last month that he had rejected calls for a full review of plans to scale-back women’s and children’s services at the North Yorkshire hospital.

In a letter responding to Mr King’s concerns, Mr Hague said: “I have written to the Health Secretary ... (and) stressed to him that I am very concerned about the viability of the Central Dales Practice which is a vital healthcare provider to the people of Hawes.

“I also made it clear that I feel very strongly that rural health services are now under great pressure. I also share your concerns about the future of maternity and paediatric services to the Friarage Hospital, and I remain keen to see that this is reviewed as fully as possible.”

The moves to end the MPIG payments have provoked accusations that younger generations are being driven out of rural communities amid the health cutbacks, and closures of other key services including schools.

The leader of Richmondshire District Council, Councillor John Blackie, said: “This is an agenda for rural-depopulation big style of those we need to maintain a vibrant and sustainable future for our rural and deeply rural communities in North Yorkshire.

“This is leading to the creation of huge retirement and second home villages called the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors National Parks, with smaller satellite settlements in the rural provinces on the fringes of our urban conurbations.”

However, the Department of Health was adamant that the decision to phase out the MPIG payments is aimed at making a fairer funding system, with money for GPs shared depending on the numbers of patients they serve and the health needs of those patients.

A spokeswoman added: “This will stop some GP practices receiving thousands of pounds more than others that care for a similar number of patients with similar patient needs.

“NHS England is currently determining the best way to approach this and will engage the General Practitioners’ Committee in negotiations shortly.”

Comment: Page 12; Opinion: Page 13.