Lothian MSP Miles Briggs has been contacted by constituents who are expressing serious concerns about the future of the single GP practice at Sighthill Health centre.
The Tory health spoksesmanMiles has written to NHS Lothian and Shona Robison asking what actions they are taking to save the practice.
The current GP partner is retiring with effect from 1st April 2018 leaving the practice in a precarious position as there is no replacement GP at this present time.
The Health Board and Community Health Partnership (CHP) have been approached to help manage our practice, but local people feel they only seem interested in closing the practice and allocating patients elsewhere.
Locals say the practice has provided excellent patient care since the building opened in the 1950s, providing generations of families with high quality care.
Patients say they prefer smaller, more personal service with continuity of care provided, rather than the anonymous feeling provided at larger practices.
There is regeneration in the area with multiple housing developments being built and planned, so patients will require more GP services, not less. There are currently three large practices in nearby areas with restricted or closed lists.
Miles Briggs said: “The difficulty recruiting for a new GP at the Sighthill Health Centre GP practice is a reflection of the GP crisis that we have in Scotland.
“The Scottish Conservative ‘Save our Surgeries’ campaign is designed to prevent surgeries, such as the one at Sighthill Health Centre, from closing.
“Surgeries, such as the one at Sighthill, will continue to close if SNP Ministers do not start taking this GP crisis seriously.”
“I hope that the practice is able to recruit a new GP to keep this highly valued GP surgery open.”
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