Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Face-to-face GP Appointments

Tuesday 18 January 2022 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Government announced a plan to improve general practice capacity with 250 million in winter access funds.
  • The funds aim to increase GP appointments by supporting existing staff and improving physical premises.
  • The Minister expressed disappointment in a question regarding NHS issues, suggesting the question was political rather than constructive.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Nicola Richards
NHS
Context

The MP is concerned about the long waiting times for patients to get face-to-face consultations with their GPs. She seeks clarity on actions taken by her Department to address this issue.

Question

What steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for face-to-face GP appointments?

Answer from Maria Caulfield

In October last year, the Government announced a plan to improve general practice capacity, backed up by £250 million of winter access funds to help GPs and their practices. That can be used to fund more sessions from existing staff, or indeed increase the physical premises at a practice.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer provides general information about funding but does not directly address how it reduces waiting times specifically.

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Q2 Nicola Richards
NHS
Context

The MP has constituents who face difficulties accessing face-to-face GP appointments and is seeking an assessment by the Minister about whether the £250 million winter funding package is making a tangible difference.

Question

My constituents in West Bromwich East have been raising concerns with me about their ability to access face-to-face GP appointments at local surgeries. Given the significant £250 million winter funding package for general practice announced towards the end of last year, what assessment has the Minister made of whether that support is making a real difference on the ground?

Answer from Maria Caulfield

I thank my hon. Friend, who is pushing me constantly to improve access for her constituents, but can I reassure her that the announcement, the funds and the support are making a difference? In November last year, there were on average 1.39 million general practice appointments per working day, compared with 1.31 million in November 2019, but crucially, 62.7% of those appointments were face to face, so this is really making a difference for patients.

Partly answered

Not addressed: While the answer provides statistics and reassurance about the funding's impact, it does not directly address whether these improvements are sufficient or tangible enough in terms of wait times reduction.

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Q3 Feryal Clark Lab Enfield North
NHS
Context

The MP references a nurse's account of working during the peak of the pandemic without vaccines or treatments and criticises the Prime Minister for breaking rules, demanding his resignation.

Question

A nurse wrote this week about working on covid wards during the height of the pandemic: 'There were no vaccines or treatments then and we worked for hours in full PPE to protect ourselves and try not to bring the virus home to our families. There were no after work drinks for us…It is clear that there was a culture inside Number 10 where even if rules were not technically broken, the spirit of the rules were, and this is completely unacceptable.' The nurse is the Minister. Surely she must agree that the Prime Minister should now resign.

Answer from Maria Caulfield

I am very disappointed by the hon. Lady's question. Serious issues are facing the NHS and patients, and instead of playing party politics at the Dispatch Box, perhaps she needs to ask her own leader what he was doing in May last year.

Not addressed: The Minister changed the subject by criticising the opposition for 'party politics' without addressing the question on Prime Minister's resignation due to rule breaches.

How: Changing The Subject, Criticizing Opposition

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