'It's currently impossible to get a doctor's appointment in Hucknall', town councillor declares

Coun John Wilmott (Ash Ind), who represents Hucknall North, claimed that it was ‘currently impossible to get a doctor’s appointment in Hucknall’ when he spoke at meeting health chiefs from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), a group of GPs and health professionals responsible for local health services.

Coun Wilmott spoke about health inequalities that exist in Nottinghamshire and specially addressed issues relating to Hucknall, including poor access to GPs compared to other parts of the county.

He further claimed that waiting times for an appointment were unacceptable and called for an urgent meeting with health bosses to move plans for a new ‘super’ health centre in Hucknall forward.

He said: “Health inequalities exist in this county and we want to know what your plan is deal with this?

"I speak explicitly about the issues in Hucknall where residents tell me it is impossible to get a doctor’s appointment.

"We have a healthcare crisis in Hucknall – we have a town of 42,000 residents which is growing by the week and we have only have two major GP surgeries.

"Residents tell me getting access to a face-to-face appointments is almost impossible.

"Improving access to GP provision in Hucknall is a huge priority for us.

Hucknall councillors at County Hall have now requested an urgent meeting with Lucy Dadge, chief commissioning officer for the CCG, to discuss how they are progressing plans for a new ‘Cavell super health centre’ in Hucknall.

Coun David Martin (Ash Ind), added: “There are huge issues with doctors across Ashfield – significantly in places like Hucknall.

"People used to say they never see a police officer on patrol – now it appears many don’t see their doctors either.

"Doctors are becoming increasingly remote and that is not good for healthcare across or district or county.

"Residents are waiting longer for appointments than ever before and now it seems a significant amount of residents don’t see them at all.

"We have got to stop blaming Covid for poor access to health care.”