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GP ‘working from home’ more than 250 miles away from her surgery

GP
GP

A GP has been working from home more than 250 miles away from her surgery after relocating to the Cornish seaside, The Telegraph can reveal.

Dr Justine Hall is one of three doctors listed as working at Rudgwick Medical Centre in Horsham, West Sussex.

Her name appears in bold lettering on the gold nameplate outside the surgery.

It is also Dr Hall’s voice that greets patients who call the telephone, with her recorded voice stating the surgery is experiencing “high demand” for its services.

But rather than working on site to serve the surgery's thousands of patients, the mother-of-three now conducts consultations in Falmouth, 265 miles away from the quaint village surgery.

The surgery’s website states Dr Hall has been “working locally” to Guildford, Surrey, a 30-minute drive from the surgery, since 2015.

She holds consultations "remotely" two days a week, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, while the other two doctors can be seen in person.

'It's just outrageous'

A disgruntled patient, who wished to remain anonymous, said it is “outrageous” Dr Hall is able to continue working from the other side of the country.

She said: "I was staggered when I was told she had moved to Cornwall. They are only offering remote appointments.

“For some diagnoses you need to see someone, and yet they think it's ok to have the number two doctor in the practice living in Cornwall.

"It's just outrageous. It used to be a very highly thought-of practice and now it's not.

“Everyone is fed up with them and no-one has any faith in them any more. Lots of people in the village can't afford to go to a private GP. It's just not fair."

It comes amid criticism of GPs for not yet getting the proportion of face-to-face appointments back to pre-coronavirus levels.

Earlier this month, a senior figure at the Royal College of GPs admitted doctors went “too far” with remote appointments at the height of the pandemic.

Before Covid, around 80 per cent of GP appointments were held face-to-face, while the figures for September showed 68 per cent were in-person.

Steve Brine MP, chairman of the health committee, said: “We know that general practice is experiencing a crisis with doctors leaving a demoralised profession almost as fast as they can be recruited and patients increasingly dissatisfied with worsening access to care.

“It is concerning to hear reports of patients who are struggling to get face-to-face appointments and who are losing faith in the system.”

A social media page which appears to belong to the GP records her as living in Falmouth.

The account recently commented on a local page lamenting the closure of the local bowling alley and swimming pool.

According to the surgery's website, Dr Hall “has two Romanian rescue dogs called Flo and Brian and three rescue cats who keep her very busy”.

Patient Olivia Shepley said she has had to take her daughter Alice, two, to accident and emergency three times this month for easily treatable ear infections, because she could not get an appointment in person.

The property manager, 34, said: “We were told Dr Hall had moved to Cornwall by a friend.

“I can’t believe there is a GP on staff who is living in another part of the country - that’s not treatment.”

Rudgwick Medical Centre, Rudgwick, Horsham. - News Scan
Rudgwick Medical Centre, Rudgwick, Horsham. - News Scan

In another review shared on the surgery’s page on the NHS website in August, an anonymous patient wrote: “Have been with this surgery for over 40 years.

"Has been fantastic until the last few years when quality of service has been steadily getting worse.”

The shortage of GPs is exacerbated by the number of doctors choosing to work part-time.

One in four GPs worked full-time in August.

The number of full-time equivalent qualified permanent GPs fell from 27,041 in October 2021 to 26,791 last month.

A spokesman for Rudgwick Medical Centre said: “Our priority is to provide the best possible care to our patients in a variety of ways that suit our patients' needs and preferences.

Face-to-face appointments with GPs are only one part of the large range of services we offer our patients, as some prefer to have an online or phone appointment to fit around other arrangements.

There are currently two GPs working permanently at the surgery along with locum GPs who all provide face-to-face appointments. Dr Hall previously worked at the practice and when she decided to relocate and we struggled to recruit. Dr Hall stayed on as a part time, remote GP to provide care that could be provided in this way and continuity to our patients."

Dr Hall was not available for comment.