Scarborough Patients ‘Left Without Treatment’ as Some GPs Stop Midwifery Prescriptions

Wednesday, 19 February 2025 06:00

By Anttoni James Numminen, Local Democracy Reporter

Local NHS leaders have raised concerns about patients being ‘left without treatment’ after some medical practices stopped issuing prescriptions for midwifery services.

The Ayton and Snainton Medical Practice near Scarborough has said it will cease prescribing medications for the midwifery service with “immediate effect”.

Bosses at the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust recently discussed a report outlining concerns about a wider trend in the area. according to the briefing:

“There are issues across the York and Scarborough community with other GPs no longer prescribing medications for pregnant women,”

It was recommended that on discharge after birth, the trust “should give a minimum of 14 days medicines and any courses of medicines in full”.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), a spokesperson for the trust said that mitigations have been put in place for women who are on “long-term medications during pregnancy and after birth to provide those via the trust’s maternity service”.

“In the meantime, this is a standing agenda item on the trust resilience group and work is ongoing with the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB about this matter,” they added.

However, the trust did not elaborate on the number of medical practices that have ceased prescribing such medications in its area and what reasons GPs had given for doing so.

The report, which was presented to the York and Scarborough NHS Trust’s board of directors, noted that patients who are served by community midwives are not always under consultant obstetric care “and the midwives are not able to prescribe medications under their scope of practice”.

General practitioners have historically provided prescriptions for maternity patients under the care of community midwives and the recent development was “currently leaving patients without treatment”, the report warned.

It added that

“Some GP practices have refused to prescribe for these patients when discharged back to their care.

“The Chief Pharmacist has raised to the ICB Chief Pharmacist, and the Maternity Services are developing a pathway to mitigate in the interim to ensure women receive medications.”

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