Three GP surgeries told to prepare for 1,200 ‘guests’, Piddington council chairman reveals

The chairman of Piddington Parish Council has revealed that three GP practices in the Bicester area have been told to prepare for 400 extra patients each.

Speaking on GB News, he said: “The Chancellor is promising fiscal discipline, safer communities, and now more power to local people. And yet, the Budget allocates another £150 million for developing large accommodation sites.

“But there’s no consultation with anyone locally. And even Matthew Barber, the Thames Valley Police Police and Crime Commissioner, he’s writing a letter to the Home Secretary to state very clearly this risk is too big.

“What proportion of this money is going to be going towards allocation for risk management? And I think we’ve got to look at what is the budget, what is it, how is it going to be used?

“Because who’s deciding the risk level, and shouldn’t we be looking at professionals, people who actually know the statistics, know the crime issues?

“He’s highlighted specifically there’s going to be more crime, more sexual assaults, more rapes, specifically, and they don’t have the resources to actually handle that.

“I’m sitting here, a whole village sits here, a whole community sits here, and our surrounding areas, worrying about the fact that someone in Whitehall who doesn’t understand about what’s happening on the ground is making a decision when actually the Chancellor is saying more power to local people. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t add up.

“It’s lunacy, and I also learnt yesterday that three NHS surgeries in the Bicester vicinity have been told to prepare, each one of them, to facilitate an extra 400 guests. That’s going to be 1,200 guests that we, as a community, are going to have to step aside to accept a second position on NHS resources.

“So this is specifically for the service users who should be put into those sites, and yet I don’t see how and where the money has been allocated to the NHS to support that.

“The suggestion [for the site to be open] is early next year at this stage. And in terms of what’s peculiar and strange, is the site itself is as good as empty, but they have 24/7 security; three men on rotation 24/7 on one side of the road, which has nothing on that site.

“On the other side of the road, where they’ve moved all of the army gear, there’s no security whatsoever. I mean, it’s a peculiar thing, and We find the whole thing farcical.

“But not a single person has attempted to communicate with us from the Home Office. There’s been no engagement of any kind whatsoever, and the biggest concern in the councils and district councils are the fact that the commissioner for crime, basically, is saying this should not be going ahead. We cannot manage it. We cannot support it.”