January 17, 2020 2.33 pm This story is over 50 months old

Local Democracy Weekly: Your doctor will see you when the money comes in

Medical practices across Lincolnshire have missed out on more than £469,469 since 2015
Doctor stock image.

A Freedom of Information request has diagnosed a near half-a-million pound deficit in developers’ required contributions to local doctors services.

The request asked for details of projects since 2015 where the eventual amount of Section 106 money received was less than NHS England originally asked for.

The response reveals that medical practices across Lincolnshire have missed out on more than £469,469.

Many of these, it would appear are to the South of the county – mostly in Spalding and Stamford, though one is in Skegness.

The funds cover projects including new filing systems and car parking capacity, but also more importantly additional rooms, upgraded services and major expansions.

While we await a response from GPs and NHS England, the figures themselves shine further light on the need for another look at how developers building housing and the balance that needs to be striven for when compared to the impact on local services.

How many times do you see comments underneath planning stories asking “how will local services cope?”

And with a shortage of health staff across the country, surely services need to be at their best to attract new talent and help keep those new residents as healthy as the old ones?

Perhaps our council and government representatives could look again at how developers tackle their social responsibilities to the communities they build in. – DANIEL JAINES

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