11:13am Wednesday 20th January 2010
By Neil Docking
AROUND £1.2million will be used to expand GP teaching facilities at surgeries across East Lancashire.
Thirty-eight additional training places for doctors are to be created at practices in Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale.
NHS East Lancashire believes more than 90,000 NHS patients will benefit from the increased levels of expertise, knowledge and education of GPs and their teams.
The area’s community health commissioner applied for grants from the North West Deanery, the body which encourages research and education for GPs, to fund 16 schemes. This money has been supplemented by cash from the primary care trust and, in some cases, the GP practices.
Some of the schemes are already underway, with the rest expected to start before the end of the financial year.
Among those benefiting is The Cabin Surgery, Rishton, a two-partner practice, which serves around 4,000 patients, and now provides three additional training places.
The Great Harwood Medical Group will now offer one additional GP trainee place after expanding into additional space.
Dr Gullam Bhat’s Oswaldtwistle surgery has also been expanded and may move from a single-handed practice to a partnership, looking after 2,400 patients in an extra consulting room and a library, while offering two additional training places.
Oswald Medical Centre, in Accrington, will expand under the scheme, with the four-partner practice, which serves nearly 9,000 patients, offering five additional training places.
The Berry Lane Practice, Longridge, will also extend its existing premises with three extra training places.
Kathy Reade, NHS East Lancashire chairman, said: “We are delighted to have achieved such a large allocation of funding to enhance the training capabilities of our GP practices.
“The better the skill base and knowledge resources available, the better it is for patients.
"Trainee doctors attracted to the area often stay in the area and enhance both the quality and the numbers of GPs available to look after our people locally.”
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