Join the campaign to maintain a GP service in Askam
December 2020 update:
🩺 Askam GP practice saved! 🍾
In May this year a group of Parish, District and County Councillors got together to try and drum up support to save the Askam GP Practice following the retirement of Dr Jain.
The Save Our Surgery group was formed under my chairmanship. We gathered over 500 signatures and presented a petition to Parliament. We worked with the Lancashire and Cumbria Consortium of Local Medical Committees and the local community to find a solution, meeting weekly to keep momentum going.
We were determined to keep a fully functioning GP service in Askam. The need for a truly local GP was clear for us all to see.
It’s been a bumpy road, but I am very glad to say that we have got there!
Thanks to the incredible efforts of the team (and especially Harry Barker who bought the practice building for the community), I am very glad to announce that Duddon Valley Medical Practice will be operating from the existing surgery site from the end of February.
This has been a true collective effort and really shows what can be done when a group of people get the support of the community and pull together. HUGE thanks and congratulations to the whole team, but especially to Harry Barker, Mike Cumming, Stephen Toulmin, Kay Wilson, Ben Shirley, Daniel Edwards and Sam Ronson.
This has been a rotten year - but what an amazing Christmas present for the community in Askam and Ireleth!
July 2020 update:
We’re nearly there! Thanks to your support and the huge efforts of the whole Save Our Surgery group we are hoping to start delivering a new GP service in Askam soon. We’re still waiting for solicitors to sign off contracts but we’re within touching distance of getting this done. You can read the latest press release on the campaign here.
May 2020 update:
It’s clear from talking to residents of Askam that they overwhelmingly want to maintain a GP service in the village.
Askam isn’t blessed with public transport that would support easy access to other local practices. If the current practice is not retained it puts a good number of people in a difficult spot - forcing them to make the choice of a trip the GP being a multi-hour affair on the train, or a costly one with a return taxi journey.
A further concern is availability of access to GPs - other surgeries may be willing to put residents on their books, but if you can’t get an appointment as quickly or easily as you can in what is currently Dr Jain’s practice, then that is a worse service.
So, a group of Parish, County and Borough councillors are working with me to maintain a GP service in Askam.
To succeed, we need three things to fall into place, and quickly:
securing premises;
finding GPs who will practice there, and
ensuring that patients are still there to support the service.
But there is also one other crucial thing that will help us: YOUR support.
If you live in Askam or Ireleth, you may well have seen our paper petition in local shops. Please do sign up. We’ll also be doing some door-knocking to drum up support.
You can also sign the online petition, below.
Please sign up.
Doing so will let the government know that this service is required.
I’ll present the final petition to Parliament so that the Government knows that we’re serious about retaining this essential service.