Can Our Surgery Cope With Over Nine Hundred New Residents?

That's a question asked by many living in the town but, rather than speculate on the local surgery's ability to look after all of the new residents from potentially four hundred new homes, one of our members asked for the opinion of Framlingham Medical Practice. 

This letter was received in response. The text is shown in full below without comment.

"The GP Partners at Framlingham Medical Practice are aware of several planning applications relating to the potential construction of a large number of new homes within the Framlingham and Earl Soham areas. Should any of these applications be approved, this would have a significant impact on both the current and future provision of primary care services within the local community.

Unfortunately, General Practice throughout England is already under tight financial constraints and assessing how it can suitably handle the growing demands from the existing population. In order to meet the increased demand resulting from any new property developments, there would be a need to provide additional surgery time. Framlingham Medical Practice have neither the resources in terms of GP’s and associated support staff, nor the capacity of clinical rooms to cope with any such increase.

Framlingham Medical Practice has previously submitted plans to expand the existing surgery site. However, due to the current economic climate the NHS is unable to support or provide any funding for surgery extensions.

In summary, without additional funding to expand our site and range of services, any large housing development application approved in Framlingham will place a great strain on our existing infrastructure. This increase in demand will have a significant adverse impact on our ability to meet the needs of our patients and capacity to deliver a high standard of health services.

Yours sincerely

Sarah Lindsay
Practice Manager
Framlingham Medical Practice"