MORE than half of GP surgeries across the district are to have their funding cut as a review of the way practices are funded is implemented across Bradford.

Out of the 63 practices with either Personal Medical Services or General Medical Services contracts, that are involved in the review by NHS Bradford Districts and City clinical commissioning groups, a total of 33 are to receive a reduction in funding, while 29 will see their money go up, and one practice is unaffected.

The funding, which equates to more than £40 million this financial year, is not being cut overall - but changes are being made to the way it is distributed.

Ashwell Medical Centre in Manningham is one of 21 practices in the Districts CCG area that have lost out in the review of personal medical services agreements, which are locally agreed contracts between NHS England and the GP surgery. This is part of national changes to funding designed to reduce the wide variation in funding per patient between practices.

A patient at the clinic said a petition at the surgery outlined how they had lost the equivalent of employing two full-time doctors and more than 300 appointments a week.

As a result of the reduction in funding, patient Noreen Hussain, said Ashwell had been forced to change the way the reduced number of appointments can be booked by patients. As of the middle of last month same day appointments can only be booked before 11am. Anyone calling after that time is asked to ring back the next day, or if it is a medical emergency, to visit A&E instead.

Mrs Hussain, a mum-of-four, of Fairweather Green, said the loss in funding and subsequent loss in appointments was sure to make it harder for patients to be seen quickly.

She said: "I've not had to ring for a same day appointment as yet, but if the number of appointments is being reduced by 300 a week, that is sure to cause difficulties for patients.

"Often when you ring, particularly with children, its not a total emergency, but you would like an appointment sooner rather than later. People don't want to be going and waiting in A&E when it would be more appropriate to have an appointment at your local surgery."

Dr Andy Withers, clinical chairman of NHS Bradford Districts CCG, said: “As part of our new responsibility for commissioning the majority of local GP services, we have a duty to implement NHS England’s equitable funding review of personal medical services (PMS) GP contracts.

“All the funding made available will be reinvested in GP services for patients across the CCG. There will be no reduction in the overall level of GP funding as a result of this review.

“We need to make sure that all our GP practices are paid equitably and transparently for the services they provide to patients, and every penny spent gets maximum value for local people. There are currently big variations between the levels of funding our practices receive."

“It is our responsibility to try to implement national policy in a way that minimises impact as much as possible and achieves a fairer distribution of resource, while making sure that factors such as deprivation are factored into the new funding formula."

The review affects GPs nationally and the about 80 surgeries across the Bradford district. But only the Districts and City CCGs have delegated responsibility for commissioning the majority of GP services, something they took on in April 2015.

Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG, which covers surgeries in Keighley and Ilkley, as well as further afield in Skipton and Settle, was unable to provide figures on the number of practices affected by the funding review.