Conservative Councillors write to the Health Secretary about insufficient doctors in Mersea

In October, Merseas's Conservative Councillors wrote to the Labour Heath Secretary, Wes Streeting, highlighting the unacceptable situation on Mersea, where it is now virtually impossible to register with a GP.

The Mersea Councillors asked the Secretary of State to urgently investigate the appalling lack of GPs serving the Island, and also to meet with Angela Rayner, the Housing Secretary to exempt areas without adequate GP capacity from the government’s new house building targets.

The 1944 NHS White Paper produced by Churchill’s wartime government became the blueprint for the creation of the NHS. It set out a basic principle that everyone had free access to GPs at the point of need. This basic right is now no longer available to everyone on Mersea. That is why, as Mersea councillors we have written to the Health Secretary, asking him to intervene.

Meanwhile, there has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes to try to find a local solution. Sir Bernard Jenkin MP has had urgent discussions with the Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board. They are responsible for providing enough GP in the right places.  We have an immediate crisis on Mersea, with some people unable to register with a GP. The island’s only surgery regrets that they they cannot safely take on any new patients due to the significant increase in patients on their lists as a result of the recent housing developments on the island.

Sir Bernard has also had meetings with the hard-pressed GPs themselves, but it is clearly not their fault their numbers are too few. Only action by the Labour Government will solve the problem, and it is unwilling to understand the plight of the residents of Mersea.

Councillor Robert Davidson          Councillor Martin Parsons

Councillor Carl Powling                County Councillor John Jowers

2023-12-21