GENERAL practice health care in the Forest Dean is in danger of collapsing due to government spending cuts, say doctors.

GPs across the Forest have collectively bearded MP Mark Harper over their fears over the future of Primary Health Care in the area.

In an open letter to Mark Harper, signed by 24 local doctors, they say recent ‘healthcare reforms’ are threatening to make the burden on GPs ‘unsupportable’.

They lay out their main fears for the primary care in a no-holds-barred attack on government healthcare policy.

The medical practitioners stated: “This letter has been written to bring to your attention the high level of concern that the undersigned General Practitioners in your constituency have with regard to the ongoing effective functioning of Primary Care in the Forest of Dean.

“The consequences of the 2010 Healthcare reforms and poor levels of funding for Primary Care, which have been highlighted in a recent Special Local Medical Committees conference, have meant that General Practice has become a very unstable environment across England, and this is certainly so in the Forest of Dean.”

One of the doctors’ main concerns is the increasing burden falling on GP partners and the difficulty in making partnerships an attractive proposition for young doctors.