PATIENTS and staff from two surgeries in Royal Wootton Bassett voiced their fears for the future of the National Health Service at an open event organised by GPs.

Doctors from the Tinkers Lane and New Court surgeries called the meeting to discuss NHS finances, sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs), and the future of the organisation.

The event was the brainchild of Dr Vardan Tadevosyan, who qualified in Ukraine and joined the Tinkers Lane surgery in 2013.

More than 25 patients and staff attended the open event.

Dr Tadevosyan, who’s now a partner at Tinkers Lane, said: “The concept of the meeting was born on hearing that my local primary school was proposing to cut teaching hours.

“I appreciated the level of stress the school must be under to make such a decision, and the similarities with our attempts to manage demand and workload in General Practice.”

He continued: “We discussed NHS finances, that are almost at breaking point and unsustainable, our genuine concerns that staff are being driven out of the NHS, with two in five GPs in the South West considering quitting in the next five years; and the sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) which represent the current NHS reorganisation being imposed upon us.”

The meeting heard that the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) called on all political parties to put general practice and patient care at the centre of their manifestos for the General Election, demanding action to safeguard the future of the family doctor service for patients.

Dr Tadevosyan added: “It is widely acknowledged that if the current trajectory of cuts is maintained over the next parliament, the UK’s healthcare expenditure will drop to one of the lowest in the developed world.

“Clearly there will be implications for patients, with 84 per cent of GPs reporting their perception that, over the last two years, our ability to provide safe care has been undermined by the combination of increasing workload and under-resourcing.”

Patients at the event were said to be ‘shocked’ and ‘frightened’ to hear the statistics regarding NHS funding, with the consensus being that the NHS is being overlooked despite the efforts of the British Medical Association and the RCGP.

Dr Tadevosyan added: “Members of the group were keen to write to MPs and other candidates, to share their views and maintain pressure to address this urgent issue.”