A growing housing boom is piling pressure on already stretched GP services, with calls mounting for developers to deliver doctors alongside new homes.
New analysis shows GP surgeries in North Devon are now serving an additional 5,046 homes compared with 2015, marking a 44% increase in demand.
The findings come as the Liberal Democrats set out plans to ensure new housing developments are matched with new or expanded GP surgeries.
The party said the proposal would guarantee investment in local healthcare infrastructure, amid figures showing around 1,300 GP surgeries have closed nationwide between 2015 and 2025.
Under the plan, developers would be required to fund new facilities and cover the cost of GP contracts or salaried doctors while new communities are still forming. The aim is to ensure services are in place as soon as the first homes are occupied, rather than after demand has already surged.
The proposal forms part of what the party describes as an “infrastructure first” approach, alongside a wider campaign to improve access to GP appointments, including a target of being seen within seven days, or within 24 hours for urgent cases.
Ian Roome said: “North Devon badly needs more homes, but we cannot continue to see development go ahead without the doctors, dentists and other local services needed to support it.
“Anyone can see the pressure this puts on our communities. We already have long-standing access problems in more rural areas like Lynton and Witheridge and our health services are already overstretched.”
Ian added: “If hundreds of homes are being built in places like Brynsworthy, Roundswell or Bideford, local people should be able to ask a very simple question: where is the extra GP provision to go with them?
“Councils and local communities should be given the powers to hold developers’ feet to the fire and demand the local doctors surgeries we so badly need.
“That is why I am launching a campaign to get our local NHS back on track, by building and delivering the services our communities need and ensuring new homes always go hand in hand with more GPs.”
The party also pointed to research from the London School of Economics suggesting that declining GP provision and surgery closures can affect public trust, with areas experiencing reduced access seeing increased support for more extreme political movements.
Data referenced in the analysis is available at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KfqC6PfAq1o7MkT12cwbYd7Dq5di82BH/edit?gid=2039040397#gid=2039040397
