Statement from NHS Devon – 5 April 2024

We are grateful to all who attended the meeting in Lynton Town Hall recently and shared their views with us. Thank you also to the local community, the patient participation group (PPG), and the mayor for engaging with us in tackling this very important challenge for the people of Lynton. As a reminder, the Fuller & Forbes plan is to run Lynton Health Centre as a branch site of their existing practice, Queens Medical centre in Barnstaple, from 1 May 2024.

We know some of the local community may see this as a reduction, but we are confident this a good outcome, and the only outcome that retains a local GP service in Lynton. Fuller and Forbes would obviously wish to make the new arrangements for a local service in Lynton work as well as possible and them running this is an excellent outcome for this remote community. Fuller and Forbes are an experienced GP provider who have offered to secure access to a GP five days a week for people in Lynton. But to make this work, it requires ongoing engagement and input from the community. There will be an important role for the Lynton PPG in representing those views and in continuing to provide constructive feedback to us.

Only two GP practices submitted their expressions of interest in running GP services in Lynton, and we thank them for all the work that they have put into this process. However, only one of these proposals was viable. We recognise that taking on a relatively small practice may be viewed as a challenging proposition, with less financial incentive than might be anticipated.

For those of you who were able to attend the recent meeting at the town hall and the PPG meetings, you will know that NHS Devon is committed to maintaining GP provision in Lynton. The geography and travel links of the area means that Lynton patients would be significantly impacted if they were to be allocated to other practice lists, with the closest being about 20 miles away. While this has had to happen in other areas of the country, we are working hard for this not to be the case for the people of Lynton and appreciate their support in working with us to achieve this outcome.

We look forward to our continued work with the local community to shape the new model of care and to support Fuller and Forbes in delivering the best care available to the people of Lynton.

Thank you