Plans for Leighton Buzzard's health hub look to be scrapped - for now - due to 'revenue constraints'

An extraordinary meeting of the Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (BLMK ICB) is due to take place this afternoon (January 11), with its agenda listing the Leighton Buzzard site as one which is "not affordable to progress at this stage” within the limits of the Primary Care Budget. However, the ICB states that it "will continue to seek further opportunities to bring some of these schemes forward" and "may consider alternative funding streams".

Liberal Democrats in Leighton-Linslade told the LBO today: "The town has expanded rapidly over the last few years with new developments surrounding it. Residents have been repeatedly promised a new GP surgery and a health hub to cope with this growth, but today the BLMK ICB are set to reject those plans. People are struggling to get a GP appointment, at a time when the NHS is in crisis with soaring ambulance wait times, spiralling waiting lists for treatment and long waits at A&E."

In April 2021, it was felt that Leighton-Linslade was "at the back of the queue" under the rollout plans, while in contrast, work on Dunstable's hub was planned for May 2021.

Central Bedfordshire Council's (CBC's) director of social care, health and housing, Julie Ogley, told its health and wellbeing board that getting the hubs required was "really important", while it was heard that capital support was being set aside for Leighton Buzzard and West Mid Bedfordshire hubs.

However, fast forward to July 2022, and there were concerns about a lack of progress. A report from Leighton-Linslade Town Council, presented to CBC, called for the hub to be a "top priority" . The meeting also heard that the town's three surgeries were "swamped".

Today (January 11) Liberal Democrat Leighton-Linslade Town Council group leader, Russ Goodchild, claimed: “For years, Conservative-led Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) has been promising to bring a health hub to the town and for years they have been failing local residents."

The plans would have seen the “possible relocation of one GP practice plus space for PCN services” into a hub, along with community, mental health and social care services.

A BLMK spokeswoman said: “The committee meeting will consider a programme of primary care estates schemes that are recommended to receive funding. A robust prioritisation process has been undertaken to establish the schemes that will be taken forward initially. We are committed to getting these schemes under way as soon as possible to improve access for residents. We are continuing to work with health and care partners to develop proposals for Integrated Health and Care Hubs. We are also working with three GP practices in Leighton Buzzard and other health and care partners to develop a plan to outline how care is delivered for residents in Leighton Buzzard. However, both of these programmes of work fall outside the scope of the committee meeting taking place this week.”