Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

GP Retention

Tuesday 23 April 2024 · 4 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 4 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Government is doing a lot to retain GPs, including improving digital telephony and reducing administrative workload.
  • The Government plans to launch a future of general practice taskforce to address GP retention issues.
  • Minister is willing to meet to discuss difficulties developers face in building new GP surgery buildings.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Vicky Ford Con
NHS
Context

The MP raises concerns about the challenges faced by GPs in retaining staff post-covid and discusses efforts to support primary care.

Question

What recent progress has been made on retaining GPs? During covid and since, GPs have been exhausted and the return to primary care provision has been difficult. The Government are doing a lot such as improving digital telephony and reducing administrative workload.

Answer from Andrea Leadsom

GPs are the underpinning force of primary care. The Government is doing a lot such as improving digital telephony and reducing administrative workload. A future of general practice taskforce will be launched soon to look at what more can be done.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not specify concrete actions or timelines beyond a vague commitment to launch a taskforce.

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Q2 Vicky Ford Con
NHS
Context

The MP raises concerns about the difficulty of delivering new surgery buildings due to limits imposed by local district valuers on NHS lease costs.

Question

Chelmsford is a growing city, and while we have more clinicians now compared with pre-covid times, we need more surgeries as well. One new surgery is being built but it's difficult for developers to deliver new surgery buildings due to limits imposed by local district valuers on NHS lease costs. Will my right hon. Friend meet me to see whether we can resolve that issue?

Answer from Andrea Leadsom

I would be delighted to meet my right hon. Friend to discuss the issue which several colleagues across the House have raised with me. The District Valuer Services is crucial in ensuring value for taxpayers' money from rents charged for GP practices, but I understand the point and am happy to meet her.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not specify any concrete steps to address the issue of delivery of new surgeries beyond a vague commitment to discuss it further.

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Q3 Sarah Dyke Lib Dem Glastonbury and Somerton
NHS
Context

The MP points out that there are fewer fully qualified GPs now than in December 2016, impacting constituent access to services.

Question

There are 56 fewer fully qualified GPs in Somerset now than there were in December 2016, so it is no surprise that my constituents feel they can never access one. How will the Minister support general practice to enable it to continue providing vital services?

Answer from Andrea Leadsom

GPs have delivered 60 million more appointments a year than in 2019. We are focused on trying to deal with some of the issues GPs have raised about primary and secondary care interface so that they do not have to write fit notes and liaise with consultants. More than £200 million has been spent on digital telephony, and the additional roles reimbursement scheme has added over 36,000 more professional staff.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not specify concrete actions to address the specific shortage of fully qualified GPs in Somerset beyond a general overview of measures taken.

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Q4 Preet Kaur Gill Labour (Co-op) Birmingham Edgbaston
NHS
Context

The MP notes that despite Government promises, there are still fewer GPs than in 2015, with morale issues impacting retention.

Question

At the last general election, the Government promised to deliver 6,000 more GPs by 2024-25, but there are still 2,000 fewer GPs than in 2015. What does the Minister say after scrapping two GP retention schemes last month? Will she come clean today about another broken manifesto promise?

Answer from Andrea Leadsom

The hon. Lady is choosing numbers out of the air. There are almost 3,000 more GPs now than in 2019, and importantly the long-term workforce plan is scheduled to introduce 6,000 new training places by 2031-32. In 2022, we had the greatest number ever of new trainee GPs.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not acknowledge the specific shortfall mentioned by the MP and instead provided general figures without addressing the broken promise directly.

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