Health chiefs will be urged to outline how care will be provided for communities in some of the deepest rural parts of North Yorkshire with the closure of a GP practice serving hundreds of patients.
Our scrutiny of health committee will meet next week to discuss the closure of the Reeth Medical Centre and the impact on patients across the Upper Dales.
NHS officials have announced a branch surgery will open in Reeth once the medical centre shuts, although members of our scrutiny of health committee will seek assurances as to how the new arrangements will cater for patients.
Concerns have been raised that shutting the medical centre when the current GP retires at the end of May will have a major impact on the availability and quality of care for the 1,600 patients which it serves across a 200 square mile catchment area in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale.
The chair of the committee, Councillor Andrew Lee, has called the extraordinary meeting on Friday next week (8 May) amid ongoing discussions with health officials from the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and local NHS partners.
He said: “We need to find a solution that is sustainable and ensures that the quality of care is maintained for all of the patients who use the medical centre. This is a deeply rural area, and we need to make sure that our communities are given the care and support that they need.
“Scrutiny is about challenge, accountability and outcomes and we are using every lever available to protect access to healthcare for people in the Upper Dales. We want to find out exactly how the proposed branch surgery will operate and provide health services that are vital for the Upper Dales.”
The extraordinary meeting has been called to allow the committee to examine how the closure could affect patients’ access to services along with health inequalities and how care can be continued in the area.
Members of the committee will also look at how local communities have been engaged with over the planned closure, what alternative options were explored and what safeguards are in place to protect patients’ safety.
The scrutiny of health committee’s role is to review and challenge decisions affecting local health services, ensuring that the experiences and concerns of patients and communities are fully understood and reflected.
Our elected member for the Upper Dales division, Councillor Yvonne Peacock, and the MP for Richmond and Northallerton, Rishi Sunak, have also been involved in the discussions to secure a sustainable solution for health provision in the area.
Councillor Peacock said: “I am pleased that this meeting has been called so that we can get all parties around the table for a full and honest discussion.
“This meeting is extremely important for the scrutiny committee to be able to get a clear understanding of the solution that is being proposed and how it will work to support patients in the Upper Dales.”
After the current GP informed the Integrated Care Board in November 2025 that they were planning to retire, there had been extensive efforts to find an alternative provider with all NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board practices along with other practices in Darlington and Yarm.
Discussions have also been held with federations, trusts and all other providers of GP contracts within the Integrated Care Board to find a solution.
The Integrated Care Board announced yesterday (Wednesday, 29 April) that it has approved an application for a branch surgery in Reeth to help to maintain local access to primary care when the medical centre shuts at the end of May.
The application from the Central Dales Practice will support about 1,500 patients, who are due to transfer to the practice when the Reeth Medical Centre contract ends.
The Central Dales Practice currently runs two surgeries in Hawes and Aysgarth, and final confirmation of the branch location in Reeth and its opening date is subject to securing suitable premises.
The Integrated Care Board has stressed that the closure of the Reeth Medical Centre is not part of any restructure or reorganisation of the service and has arisen due to the GP’s decision to retire.
Councillors have maintained that the meeting next week is not an end point, but part of an ongoing effort to press for a workable solution.
The meeting is the formal forum through which we will examine the issue with NHS decision makers who are due to attend as well.
The extraordinary meeting of the scrutiny of health committee will be held at the Church of St Andrew in the village of Grinton, near Reeth, from 11am on Friday, May 8.
View or download the report to the scrutiny of health committee as a PDF here.