Residents of Teynham will have to wait years for a GP to return

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Transcript

00:00Residents in Tenham have been left without a GP practice for over two years.

00:04In the area there is just one GP per 1,700 people and figures show that this is the worst GP ratio

00:12across the whole country. Plans have been made to build hundreds of homes in the area

00:17but it could be years before a GP practice is underway.

00:21If you want to set up a practice from scratch there are a lot of hurdles you have to go through.

00:27You've got to be talking to the integrated care board, the ICB,

00:31about whether there's a need for GPs in the area because you'll need some approval to

00:35be able to do that. You have to get something called a performance list as well

00:39and then you've got to look for premises.

00:41Residents in Tenham have expressed their concern and frustration over the issue.

00:46First of all it's difficult to get an appointment. If you don't ring at eight

00:49o'clock each morning then you've got no hope of getting an appointment that day.

00:53That's if there are any appointments. If you don't ring at eight o'clock that day and miss

00:58the appointment and want an appointment you've got to wait like four weeks waiting time

01:03which is ridiculous really in some circumstances. Some things are quite urgent.

01:08I tend not to if I've got health problems I'm tending not to put mine on a back seat

01:15purely because it's the convenience of not walking to a doctor's anymore.

01:20And the other alternative I've got is to do an e-consult which isn't ideal and that's the

01:26only thing I can do now. I can't do anything else.

01:28Kent and Medway as a whole have got some of the largest list sizes but it's particularly a

01:34problem in Medway and Swale and Swale has the highest numbers. It is very easy to be in a

01:41downward spiral when it comes to GP numbers and that can be because the GP leaves for very

01:46reasonable reasons such as retirement but then someone coming in will take a look and say well

01:53that list size is large and I could go somewhere else and do less work because in general the

01:58amount of workload depends on the number of patients you're having to look after.

02:02With the long unfeasible walk to the GP for many, a long waiting list,

02:07lack of parking at the site, unreliable buses and expensive taxis,

02:11the future of the health and well-being for people in Tenham is uncertain.

02:15Kristen Hawthorne, KMTV.