Yorkshire Street Surgery denies struggling with number of asylum seekers as patients

Yorkshire Street Surgery in Rochdale has denied that it is struggling to register patients due to a high number of asylum seekers registering.

A patient of the surgery who works offshore said he is forced to re-apply each time he returns home. Brian Mahoney said: “I work offshore and was born in Rochdale, lived there and paid my taxes for 30 years.Now every time I come back and try and see the doctor, I need to re-apply as they took me off of the books due to there being no room for me because of asylum seekers.

“It is an absolute joke. Grandad, who was a Sargent Major in the Second World War and fought at Dunkirk went to Yorkshire Street Surgery, mum and dad went there and now I am being kicked out for someone who never contributed a dime to the place. Outrageous.”

April Hall, Practice Manager at Yorkshire Street Surgery said: “I can assure you there is not a problem registering patients with the surgery and as long as patients live in the practice boundary they will be registered regardless of who they are and we do not discriminate.

“We do not remove patients who work away and only ask patients to find an alternative GP if they change their address which is outside the catchment
area. This is in accordance with NHS England's guidance.

“We are aware of a high demand in registering patients as we have such a good reputation for high standards of care.”

A spokesperson for NHS England in Greater Manchester added: “All practices within the Rochdale area have open lists, and therefore if a patient requests
registration, then they should accept them unless they reside outside of their practice boundary area.

“We are not aware of any issues in relation to asylum seekers having an effect on patient registrations. Rochdale CCG commission a local Enhanced Service for Asylum Seekers and Yorkshire Street Surgery are signed up to provide it.”