Meg Hillier, MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, pledged her support for a campaign to save 12 Hackney surgeries at a meeting at Lauriston Primary School last night.
Ms Hillier told a packed hall of “Save Our Surgery” supporters that the formula for funding needs to take deprived areas into account when allocating money.
“It hits us doubly hard,” Ms Hillier said. “You have my commitment to tackle this very important issue.”
“[We must] double the members, treble the numbers, tell your colleagues. Don’t let this be done to our communities in east London,” she added.
The withdrawal of the minimum practice income guarantee (MPIG), a top up for under-funded surgeries, is expected to pull as much as £280,000 from 12 Hackney surgeries – equivalent to 25 per cent of their funding, and enough to see them close.
NHS employers website states that “MPIG is used to top up practices’ core funding – their global sum payments – to match their basic income levels”. It acts to redress issues with the global sum formula method which can undervalue deprived areas with a young population
Virginia Patania, practice manager at Jubilee Street Practice, has headed up the campaign, which saw a petition taken to Downing Street in August.
“Hackney is one of the most deprived areas in the country,” she said.
“Twelve surgeries is an astoundingly high number, if you consider that 10 per cent of the national MPIG effect is taking place in one borough.”
