eHarley Street: GP surgeries to be taken back by health board

In December there were demands for an inquiry into eHarley Street after patients, some with terminal illnesses, said they were having difficulty accessing appointments and treatments.

“It frightens me – I don’t feel safe,” said Katrina Hughes, 69, a terminal cancer patient who struggled to get an appointment or see the same doctor at Brynmawr Medical Practice in Blaenau Gwent.

“There’s no continuity of care at all,” she said.

She was among around 100 people who attended a public meeting to discuss services at the practice – many said they struggled to get appointments or were waiting for medication and test results.

In January several Senedd Members criticised the service being provided by eHarley Street-managed surgeries in Wales.

In a previous statement the partners who run eHarley Street and the surgeries it manages said they faced “significant financial constraints” but were “committed to addressing these challenges”.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board had placed the surgeries under “enhanced monitoring” and said its focus was on working with the local community when it was announced Brynmawr Medical Practice was being handed back.

eHarley Street and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board have been asked to comment.