Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Access to GPs

Tuesday 17 June 2025 · 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 1 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Naushabah Khan welcomed the Government's commitment to recruit 1700 additional GPs but noted her constituency has not yet benefited.
  • Luke Murphy highlighted the lack of capital investment in new GP provision to meet growing housing needs in Basingstoke.
  • Clive Jones criticized the Government's additional roles reimbursement scheme for delivering only three new GPs for Wokingham constituents.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Naushabah Khan Lab Gillingham and Rainham
NHS
Context

Concern has been expressed about the expansion of the additional roles reimbursement scheme to include only newly qualified GPs, which is seen as too restrictive. Local GP partners share this concern.

Question

I welcome the Government’s commitment to restoring the family doctor and the recruitment of 1,700 additional GPs nationwide, but my constituency has yet to benefit from that. Concern has been expressed to me about the expansion of the additional roles reimbursement scheme to include only newly qualified GPs, which it is feared may be too restrictive. I have met local GP partners who share that concern, so will the Secretary of State meet us to discuss how the scheme can better support areas such as mine?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)

We are investing an extra £900 million in general practice, and have reformed the GP contract to help bring back the family doctor and end the 8 am scramble. That contract reform included further changes to make it easier to recruit GPs through the scheme. As my hon. Friend will see shortly when we publish the 10-year plan for health, general practice is at the heart of our proposals to build a neighbourhood health service. I am keen to work with her and with GPs to make it even easier to ensure that qualified GPs can get jobs and patients can get GP appointments, and I should be delighted to meet her.

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Q2 Luke Murphy Lab Basingstoke
NHS
Context

Many people in Basingstoke still struggle to gain access to their GPs due to a lack of capital investment. The Chineham medical practice, for example, was built to serve just 8,000 patients but now serves more than 18,000 and is set to serve many thousands more.

Question

After 14 years of the Conservatives running down the frontline of the NHS, many people in Basingstoke still struggle to gain access to their GPs. One issue that patients and GPs raise time and again is the lack of capital investment in new provision to meet growing housing need. Chineham medical practice, for example, was built to serve just 8,000 patients but now serves more than 18,000, and is set to serve many thousands more in the years to come. What more are the Government doing to enable every patient in Basingstoke to see their GP when they need to?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Just as this Government are delivering record home building with a huge target to build the homes that Britain needs, we also need to ensure that people get the local services that they deserve. That is exactly why this Government have invested an extra £102 million this year to create additional clinical space in over 1,000 GP practices, which will create new consultation rooms and make better use of existing space to deliver more appointments. I know the Chineham medical practice was one of the practices put forward by its integrated care board for funding, so I hope we will see that practice benefiting from this investment in the near future as we rebuild our NHS.

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Q3 Clive Jones Lib Dem Wokingham
NHS
Context

The additional roles reimbursement scheme led to just three new GPs for Wokingham, which is seen as insufficient. There is a need to deliver GP practices in new developments such as Arborfield.

Question

The Government’s additional roles reimbursement scheme led to just three new GPs for my constituents in Wokingham, which is a drop in the ocean. More needs to be done to deliver GP practices in new developments such as Arborfield in south Wokingham. Why did Ministers not support the Liberal Democrat amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that would have made commitments to build GP surgeries in all new housing developments legally binding?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)

Probably because being that prescriptive about every housing development is not sensible, even if the thrust of what the hon. Member describes—that as new housing development is built, we need to ensure that local infrastructure goes alongside it—is the right approach. I take what he says about the number of GPs, and as I have said, we do not pretend to have fixed all the problems in 11 months, but with respect, those are three more GPs than were there before. I know there is more to do, but give me time, and we will rebuild general practice for his constituents and anyone else’s.

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Q4 Jess Brown-Fuller Lib Dem Chichester
NHS Agriculture & Rural Affairs
Context

The Westbourne branch of Emsworth medical practice in Chichester is set to close at the end of this month, leaving elderly and vulnerable patients with no easy access to a medical practice.

Question

Access to GPs in my constituency of Chichester is being undermined by the closure of the Westbourne branch of Emsworth medical practice at the end of this month. Patients will now have to travel to Emsworth, but we are talking about a small rural village, and there is no public transport to get my elderly and vulnerable patients to that medical practice over the border. Will the Secretary of State please meet me to urgently discuss how we can protect this vital service in a rural village in Chichester?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)

I can well understand the hon. Member’s concern and her constituents’ concern. Practice closures are hard on communities wherever they are, but they disproportionately hit rural communities and those that suffer with poor transport connectivity. I would urge her in the first instance to raise the specific local issues with the ICB. However, I reassure her and other right hon. and hon. Members that the needs of rural, coastal and remote communities are very much in our mind—and, crucially, in the 10-year plan—and our thinking about how we build genuine neighbourhood health services in all types of neighbourhood.

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