Leighton Buzzard patients want action on healthcare in the town as survey results published

The survey was organised by the town’s Patient Participation Groups
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Leighton Buzzard residents are overwhelmingly concerned about healthcare facilities in the town, a survey has found.

Over 96% of patients who responded to the Healthcare Survey organised by the town’s three Patient Participation Groups are concerned about current and future healthcare provision while 94% feel Leighton-Linslade does not have sufficient GP surgeries for its growing population,

Up to 98% want an urgent treatment centre or minor injuries clinic.

The Healthcare Survey was organised by the town’s three Patient Participation GroupsThe Healthcare Survey was organised by the town’s three Patient Participation Groups
The Healthcare Survey was organised by the town’s three Patient Participation Groups

In addition, 91% of the 5,393 respondents agreed that there should be a series of public meetings to discuss any plans and that the public should be informed of healthcare provision developments. Two out of every three respondents agreed that Central Beds Council should provide a community facility for healthcare prevention activities.

Chair of the Bassett Road Surgery PPG, Edith Griffith, said: “This forgotten corner of Bedfordshire urgently needs and deserves better healthcare and residents’ voices deserve to be heard and urgent action taken immediately. Our small team is working through the data, including over 8,000 individual comments made by respondents. More results will be made available shortly.

"The comments include patients’ thoughts on the services we need locally and their experiences of being sent to, or having to use, hospitals and clinics across Beds and Bucks and even into Herts. They also include suggestions as to where a Healthcare Centre might best be sited.”

Ms Griffith continued: “The ‘Feasibility Study; The development of additional Health and Care Services in Leighton Buzzard’ released by the Bedfordshire, Luton, and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (BLMK ICB) on May 17 is less comprehensive than the last report five years ago, which came to nothing. So, whilst we welcome it, we just hope and pray it will finally move our Health Provision forward at speed.

"Its release, coinciding with the opening of Dunstable’s new £43m Grove View Integrated Health and Care Hub, brings into sharp focus the widely contrasting allocation of healthcare funding between local large towns. "The Hub, with its 24/7 GP service, as well as community, mental health, social care, rehabilitation, diagnostic, outpatient and specialist services, amongst others, will be an excellent facility for Dunstable residents and is to be welcomed.

"However, as the largest town in Beds and with no hospital on its doorstep, unlike Dunstable, one wonders why Leighton Buzzard has been so poorly served and for so long by the BLMK ICB (and its CCG predecessors) and also by Central Beds Council (CBC).”

PPG representatives will present the Healthcare Survey findings at a meeting with the BLMK ICB on June 13.

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Regarding the feasibility study, earlier this month ICB chief executive Felicity Cox said: “Improving access to health and care across our area is a priority for the Integrated Care Board and requires us to work with partners and clinicians to help us deliver affordable and sustainable solutions.

“We have listened to residents and understand the need to future proof services in Leighton Buzzard given the growth in housing and population growth expected over the next decade.

“The Feasibility Study shows that we have two potential options available to us and we will work with residents and partners to agree how a new space could best be used, subject to detailed planning and the development of an outline business case.”