City Centre Residents Need GP's (Cllr Marc Ramsbottom)

Cllr Marc Ramsbottom <info@marcramsbottom.org.uk>

City Centre Residents Need GP's

November 12, 2008 4:51 PM

There are only 2 doctors surgeries serving 20,000 city centre residents

Many city centre residents are unable register with a local doctor according to city centre councillor Marc Ramsbottom.

There are only 2 doctors surgeries in the whole of the city centre meeting the health needs of over 20,000 residents. Many residents are being turned away by doctors surgeries because they are full, and forced to register with other doctors that may be miles away from their home.

Lib Dem Councillor Marc Ramsbottom, who recently met with the busy GP practice on Bloom St, says that the existing number of doctors based in the city centre is totally inadequate to cope with the huge influx of residents over the past 10 years, and that health bosses as well as the city council have failed to properly expand health services for city centre residents.

"The two doctors surgeries in the city centre already cater for over 12,000 residents and do a fantastic job of trying to meet the increasing needs of city centre residents, but with over 20,000 residents now living in the city centre, many are being forced to register elsewhere, in other parts of the city, or are simply not registered at all. Residents in Castlefield have no doctor's in their local area at all." said Coun Ramsbottom.

He is seeking an urgent meeting with health bosses to press them more resources and for a new GP facility dedicated to the city centre.

In 2005 the NHS opened a walk in centre outside Piccadilly station, but it does not allow patients to register and has only one doctor and deals with minor ailments and injuries.