THE CITY’S leadership have been warned that urgent steps need to be taken to ensure health services keep up with demand during a housing boom.

Councillors heard on Tuesday that the west of Carlisle is seeing a surge in house building “not seen since the 1960s.”

Conservative member James Bainbridge said: “Several hundred properties have been built, several hundred more have been given permission and several thousand more are due to be built over the course of the Carlisle Local Plan.”

The councillor for Sandsfield and Morton West said: “Increasing demand on GP primary care is a concern of many residents and the concern of residents is that demand will overtake capacity.”

He asked the executive what was being done to ensure that residents would be able to see a doctor in a timely fashion.

“GP investment into modern development on Eastern Way and in the North of Carlisle are welcome. Does the portfolio holder agree that the west of Carlisle is approaching a point where it needs similar GP infrastructure investment?

“What steps are being taken by Carlisle City Council, in partnership with NHS England and the North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group to assess current GP capacity in the west of Carlisle? Have sites been identified as potential GP practice locations and what efforts are being made to market these to potential GP practice businesses?”

Cllr Elizabeth Mallinson, the Conservative leadership’s Communities, Health and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder said: “As the local planning authority, we have a key role to play in identifying and supporting the delivery of the physical infrastructure requirements as part of any future planned housing growth.”

An Infrastructure Delivery Plan drawn up when the latest Carlisle Local Plan was devised found that “there would be no major deficits in the physical provision of health care facilities across the district and that the growth plans for Carlisle were in line with the CCG’s own investment plans.”

Cllr Mallinson said: “Hence, no additional sites for GP practices have been specifically identified within the plan, although generic policies support the provision of new care facilities should they be required in future.”

She said that GP waiting times in Carlisle were suffering from a national issue.

"As it stands, it would appear that any existing capacity issues are less a result of the physical number and location of health facilities, but more one of the lack of trained and qualified general practitioners and other NHS staff needed to service any new practice."

Cllr Mallinson said that the city council enjoyed "a positive relationship with colleagues in the NHS and North Cumbria Care Commissioning Group who are regular attendees at our Healthy City steering group.

"There is an ongoing working relationship with the NHS and CCG exploring ways through which staffing capacity can be raised in the Carlisle area for the needs of all Carlisle residents."