ALMOST a quarter of GPs in Brighton and Hove are not accepting new patients, a watchdog has revealed.

Healthwatch Brighton and Hove said it was concerned about the overall capacity of the system to cope if another surgery in the city shut.

The city has lost seven GP practices over the last two year, leading to thousands of patients having to register with other surgeries.

The watchdog checked with the online NHS Choices website, which lists details of practices and found ten in the city had closed lists.

There are about 46 practices in the city at the moment with 10 so full they cannot take any more patients.

Healthwatch says anyone looking for a place to register as a new patient or who wants to change GP surgeries for other reasons might find it difficult in some parts of city and they may have to travel further afield.

This could cause problems for people with mobility issues, those who are frail and those who cannot easily access or cannot afford transport costs.

Healthwatch is planning to visit every GP surgery in the city to review services from the patients’ perspective

Chief executive David Liley said: “The important thing for us is not to criticise but to help build more resilient services.

“The NHS can only do that if everyone is realistic about the challenges ahead.

“If GP services are going to cope with more demand and more varied demand in the future those plans must be built on a sound foundation.”

British Medical Association GP committee chairman Chaand Nagpaul said: “GP services, including those in Brighton area, are being overwhelmed by rising patient demand, shrinking budgets and staff shortages.

“GP practices are in some cases having to close their patient lists as they cannot because of these pressures continue to offer safe care to their patients, especially to the increasing number of older patients with complex conditions.

“We need the government to end its indifference to this crisis and provide urgent support to practices in Brighton and across the rest of the country.”

NHS England is responsible for commissioning GP services.

A spokeswoman said: “GP practices are responsible for managing the way they register new patients but we know that general practice is under real pressure.

“We are working alongside Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group to support practices to address their challenges, which include difficulties recruiting and retaining GPs, and to make sure everyone can register with a GP practice.”

  • Have you had problems registering with a GP? If so, call Siobhan Ryan on 01273 021385.