To: Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) Chief Executive and Board
Cc: NHS England (Midlands primary care leadership); our local MPs and councillors

We, the patients and residents of Earls Barton and surrounding communities, are concerned about the pressure on GP access at Earls Barton Medical Centre and Penvale Park Medical Centre.

Before the current provider took over in April 2024, both practices experienced a prolonged period of uncertainty. Since taking over, the provider has worked to stabilise services and strengthen day-to-day delivery, including practical improvements to the patient environment and access arrangements, and improving clinical capacity.

However, the practices remain under strain. Services are already more restricted than our community needs, and the funding position has declined further, alongside ongoing inconsistency in certain payments. This makes it harder to maintain stable staffing patterns and reliable appointment capacity.

In late 2025, the ICB indicated that an independent, facilitated resolution meeting would be used as a route to address these issues. Despite extensive correspondence over many months, no confirmed date has been put in place. Last week, we were advised that the proposed route would not proceed as previously offered.

This petition is not about blame. It is about ensuring patients have access to safe, stable local GP services and that the practices have the predictable funding and payment consistency needed to plan and deliver care.

What we are we asking the ICB and NHS England to do now?

1) Confirm a stabilisation plan within 14 days for Earls Barton and Penvale Park, including clarity on funding and payment consistency going forward to ensure Patient Access is restored.
2) Put in place a clear, reliable payment timetable and a rapid mechanism to resolve funding and payment inconsistencies.
3) Agree an urgent access recovery plan with measurable milestones and timeframes, developed with practice leadership and patient representatives.
4) Book an independent, facilitated resolution meeting within 21 days with decision-makers present who can agree and sign a practical plan.
5) Provide monthly public updates to patients until service stability is secured.

Patients deserve a stable local GP service. The practices deserve a fair, predictable framework to deliver that service.

Please sign and share this petition. If you can, also write to your local MP and councillors asking them to support urgent action to stabilise GP access in our community.