Sir Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, has written to the Health Secretary asking him to prioritise the lack of GPs in Gainsborough as “urgent”. The MP of over thirty years’ service in the House of Commons said the crisis required “immediate attention”.

“We already face a shortage of 80 GPs in Lincolnshire,” the MP wrote to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. “Only 6 out of 30 vacant places in the Lincolnshire GP Vocational Training Scheme were filled in 2015/16. The inability to fill these roles will have a deleterious knock-on effect with each passing year – all at a time when GPs are retiring at an alarming rate.”

“The lack of access to General Practitioners, aside from the real irritations it will cause, will lead to poorer health outcomes across the board, as well as putting A&E departments under further strain.”

The Gainsborough, Caistor, and Market Rasen Member of Parliament then called on the Health Secretary to give “urgent priority” to finding a solution.