Treorchy surgery to close
Residents of Treorchy are to lose one of their GPs surgeries which currently caters for just over 3000 patients. Horeb surgery will close at the end of July as the GP there is understood to be moving on and nobody can be found to take over the practice.
It is getting to be a common tale throughout the UK and particularly in Wales. There are simply not enough GPs coming through the system and those that are do not by and large want to work in deprived areas where there is a high proportion of elderly residents and general ill health. Neither are those with families attracted by areas where education standards are not always what they should be.
This problem may be coming to a head now and to the attention of more members of the public, but it is not new. The shortage of doctors across the NHS has been evident for years yet the Welsh Labour Government have done little to address the issue.
The closure of surgeries is happening across Wales and will inevitably increase. Some – such as Ynysangharad surgery in Pontypridd – have been taken over by larger practices.
Residents will be advised of alternative practices where they can register, but the knock on effects of putting extra pressure on other GPs does nothing to make coming here an attractive prospect.
