Two of the biggest challenges currently being faced by GP surgeries in south Lincolnshire come from 30 per cent of patients being over the age of 65 and a third of patients being of Eastern European descent, a report says.
An increase in the migrant population has impacted on complexities of health, communication and education, whilst surgeries also battle to deal with 28 to 30 per cent of patients being 65 plus, compared to a national average of 18 per cent.
The issues were raised in a summary report of quality assurance visits to south Lincolnshire’s 15 GP surgeries presented to the area’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) last month.
The report said:
- all three Spalding practices reported an increasing migrant population, with two practices reporting their registered patient population being 21 to 37 per cent of Eastern European ethnicity;
- some practices have seen their list size grow as much as ten per cent in the last year. Gosberton’s population has grown from 3,000 to 7,000 in the last seven years and lists are expected to rise further due to new housing;
- concerns were raised around “sporadic and sparse” community teams such as health visiting, mental health and paediatric services;
- temporary residents seen in the past 12 months ranged from six patients to 507. GPs report that lack of information about these patients can be time consuming;
- some practices have employed paramedics to help with workload especially in relation to care homes;
- GPs reported spending large amounts of time searching for respite and community beds.
A South Lincolnshire CCG spokesman said: “We have undertaken visits to all of our practices to help us understand the challenges being faced by General Practice. We have regular meetings with our practices and work closely with colleagues including the Local Medical Committee to address any concerns raised at these meetings.
“We would like to assure patients that South Lincolnshire CCG remains committed to providing the highest quality safe care to all of our registered patients.”
