Local people across North Norfolk face having to travel three times as far to visit their local doctor, Trevor Ivory has warned. This has emerged from a detailed analysis of Government plans to introduce ‘polyclinics’ across England whether local residents want them or not.

Labour Ministers want to replace local GPs’ surgeries, which currently carryout 90% of all NHS care, with impersonal super-surgeries. 1,700 family doctor surgeries could be closed down across England.

 London is being used as the test bed for these severe GP cuts, although Norwich is also threatened with the closure of GP surgeries and the introduction of a new polyclinic. Currently, the average local GP in London is under half a mile away - but the Government has admitted that this will more than treble to 1.5 miles once its planned 150 polyclinics are introduced.

If the same approach was replicated across the country, the average family doctor could be more than three miles away. In North Norfolk, GP surgeries are currently an average of two miles away. Under Labour plans, this could increase to seven miles. The elderly, infirm and young families will suffer the most from these increased journey times.

Mr Ivory said, “I am very concerned that Labour’s planned cuts to GP services will mean local residents will have to travel further to see their local doctor when they are ill – especially in rural areas like North Norfolk it is already hard enough to get to the surgery. These polyclinics will also be impersonal, breaking the valued link between patients and their family doctor.”

“This latest round of cuts comes on top of plans to close down local Post Offices. Gordon Brown doesn’t seem to care about the social value of keeping services local and he does not understand rural communities.”