A GP Surgery for Our Area?

I first moved to this area in 1994, and our first child was born the following year.  My wife and I were fortunate to enjoy good health, aside from the occasional sporting injury, but starting a family is one of those events which gets you a lot more interested in healthcare.

We were well supported at the time by the Army GP in Arborfield, as well as the maternity ward at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, which we chose over the Army hospital in Aldershot due to its better capability to deal with any potential emergencies – which proved a good decision in the event.

30 years later, with the Army GP long gone and many thousands of new houses in the Barkham and Arborfield Green area, getting to see a GP is not so simple.  A GP surgery was considered for the development at Arborfield Green but the NHS at the time decided to share the burden of the new housing around the local area.  As people will know, the surrounding surgeries in Finchampstead, Swallowfield, Shinfield and Wokingham Town are all now very busy and normally need a car or taxi journey to attend a face-to-face appointment.  

GP support is one of the most frequent things people talk about on the doorstep, and something both Arborfield and Barkham Parish Councils asked me about at our first meetings this year.  When our new MP Clive Jones was elected in July, I talked with him about the issue and, spurred on by a letter from a Barkham resident, we decided to see what could be done.  

There are already around 18,500 people living in the Arborfield Cross, Arborfield Green and Barkham areas without a local GP.  With the further growth we are expecting, the case for a local GP surgery is clear.  When our MP raised this in Parliament, the Health Minister Stephen Kinnock coined the term ‘GP Desert’ to describe such areas, and agreed it was unacceptable.  

The MP and I have met with the regional NHS commissioning body, representatives of local GPs and other organisations who can help make it happen, and by the time you read this the MP will have had another meeting with the Minister.  This feels possible.  It’s not an easy process to create a surgery from scratch, as we have seen in Shinfield over the past few years, but there are options for how a facility, funding and staffing could be provided.

The MP is asking local people who support a GP surgery for Arborfield Green and the surrounding area to show their support via his petition. If you would like to, you can add your name at www.wokinghamlibdems.org.uk/arborfieldgp.  

A GP surgery for Arborfield Green and the surrounding area would be a fantastic addition to the community, and I really hope we can make this happen.  

Cllr Adrian Betteridge, Wokingham Borough Councillor for Barkham and Arborfield

You can contact me by email at adrian.betteridge@wokingham.gov.uk or by telephone on 07985 088298