East Cambridgeshire District Council is continuing to push for support for Sutton residents following the announcement of the closure of the GP practice. 

The Council, along with many local residents, is concerned about the impact closing the GP facility in Sutton will have on the local community. 

This week it has been working with partners, including the NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board, to explore what options are available.   

This has included attending a joint meeting with Stephen Barclay, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Conservative MP for North East Cambridgeshire, which includes Sutton, to ask him urgently to look into the issue. 

It is also supporting the NHS with research into land availability as part of a longer-term piece of work to potentially provide a new surgery in the village.  

Leader of the Council, Anna Bailey, who has attended two public meetings in addition to the meeting with Stephen Barclay, said: “Since being notified of this issue we have pulled out all the stops at East Cambridgeshire District Council to do what we can to support residents who use Sutton GP practice. 

“Fenland Group Practice, which runs the surgery, and NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough are committed to ensuring all patients have access to high quality GP services and care in the future and our understanding is that they are working to provide a smooth transition for patients to an alternative GP practice. 

“In the meantime, we are working with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board to explore all the options available. These range from identifying sites within the village on which we could potentially locate a new GP surgery to contacting the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority to raise the issue of the lack of transport in the event that patients are moved to other practices. In particular, we are asking them to consider commissioning the Ely Zipper Sutton service that ECDC put to them some time ago. 

“We want residents to be assured we are taking this very seriously and doing all we possibly can to support workable solutions.” 

In the meantime, residents can find out more information on the Fenland Group Practice website (external link)