CONCERNS about threatened GP services in rural County Durham villages have been raised in parliament.

Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson spoke about the planned closures of at least two of Skerne Medical Group’s four surgeries during the Budget debate at Westminster on Wednesday.

The group, which covers Sedgefield, Fisburn, Trimdon Colliery and Trimdon Village, said the proposals had been made due to a GP shortage.

Mr Wilson told politicians the Budget had done “little to address” the issue and said his constituency was at “the forefront of the crisis”. He said: “The lack of GPs is a national concern and is now impacting on our local communities.”

Mr Wilson added he understood the challenges faced by Skerne Medical Group but hoped they would review services in all four locations. “For all the increase in the NHS budget, we find out today that public health services and the education and training of nurses and doctors will be cut by £1 billion next year,” he added

“Professor Anita Charlesworth, director of economics and research at the Health Foundation, has said although more money has been made available for the NHS ‘there is a big risk that it won’t feel like that in hospitals and GP surgeries over the coming year’.”