Access to GPs 2020-01-28

2020-01-28

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Questions & Answers

Q1 Direct Answer
Tom Randall Lab
Gedling
Context
Families in Gedling constituency have difficulty accessing GP appointments when needed.
There are many families with children in Gedling. What is being done to ensure that patients, particularly families with young children, can access GP appointments when they need them?
Obviously this is an incredibly important subject, and I know the frustration many families feel at not being able to access a GP appointment when they need it. We have a whole-scale programme of work to improve access. This includes recruiting 6000 more GPs and 26000 primary care staff other than GPs—increasingly patients at GP surgeries can be treated by nurses—and increasingly enabling people, especially those who find it difficult to travel, to use technology to get the treatment they need.
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Q2 Direct Answer
Sally-Ann Hart Con
Hastings and Rye
Context
Hastings has a shortage of salaried GPs, leading to reliance on more expensive locum doctors.
Hastings has a shortage of salaried GPs and GP services—locum GPs are available, at the right price. Will the Secretary of State please outline what steps he is taking to increase the number of salaried, rather than locum, GPs and GP services in Hastings and Rye?
My hon. Friend is right to ask. It is incredibly important that we get the right number of GPs, not least to reduce the amount spent on locums, who can be very expensive and often do not know the local population as well as salaried GPs. Her local clinical commissioning group is developing a new-to-practice fellowship in Hastings for GPs starting out in practice in order to encourage more doctors into practice and then to support them. It is also working with primary care networks so that more can become GP trainers and take on students. We are expanding the numbers going into GP training—there were record numbers last year—but I want the numbers to go up again and to make sure that Hastings gets the GPs it needs.
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Q3 Direct Answer
Richard Fuller Con
Bedford
Context
North East Bedfordshire is experiencing population growth, leading to concerns about GP availability.
As part of the council area with the second-largest population increase in the country, the people of Biggleswade, Sandy, Arlesey and Stotfold are at their wits' end over access to GP appointments. What special attention will the Secretary of State pay to those areas of large population growth to make sure that increases in housing are matched by increased access to GPs?
That is an incredibly important point. We have a manifesto commitment to ensure that where there is new housing there is also new primary care. Just as a new housing estate will often require a new primary school and new transport links, so we need to put in the GPs as well.
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Q4 Direct Answer
Stuart Paul Anderson Lab
Wolverhampton South West
Context
Tettenhall Wood surgery has lost patient appointments and seeks to recover them.
I thank the Secretary of State for visiting Tettenhall Wood surgery in my constituency during the general election campaign. Will he work with me to increase the numbers of patient appointments back up to where they were before?
Yes. My hon. Friend has already become an incredibly strong voice for Wolverhampton, and it was a pleasure to visit Tettenhall medical practice, which has joined with other GP practices to form a primary care network, which I hope will strengthen its resilience and enable it to provide extended access to appointments, which is what he is campaigning for. I am pleased, too, with the extra 16000 appointments in Wolverhampton in the last quarter. As this shows, we are driving up the number of appointments, but we also appreciate, understand and feel the frustration people feel when they cannot get decent access to GP appointments.
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Q5 Direct Answer
Laura Farris Con
Newbury
Context
Changes in pension contributions affect some senior GPs, leading to reduced working hours or early retirement.
Changes to pension contributions mean that some senior GPs, including in Newbury, are being hit with extra tax charges if they work overtime, which is leading to the paradoxical situation of GPs paying to work and so reducing their hours or taking early retirement. What steps is the Secretary of State's Department taking to address this situation?
Tax is, of course, a matter for the Treasury, and the Chancellor would not be thrilled if I announced tax policy in the middle of health questions, tempting as that may be. However, we have been working with the Treasury, and also with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the British Medical Association, employers in the NHS and others, to deliver on our manifesto commitment to sort this out.
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Q6 Direct Answer
Jon Ashworth Lab
Bilston
Context
A local medical committee in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire has warned that the contract for practices will cost each practice £100,000 more. The Government previously promised 5,000 extra doctors but failed to deliver.
How can the Secretary of State be trusted to cut GP waiting times to less than three weeks when they have failed to recruit more GPs in poor areas and bungled contract negotiations?
We are making record investments in primary care, with record numbers of GPs in training and an increase in appointments across the country. Primary care networks have been introduced to make primary care more sustainable, and technology is being improved.
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Q7 Direct Answer
James Murray Lab
Ealing Central and Acton
Context
Hanwell Health Centre has been trying to appoint a salaried GP for three years, and there is generally a four-week wait for an appointment.
When will waiting times come down at Hanwell Health Centre under the Secretary of State's plans?
We need to recruit more GPs and other clinicians. Record numbers of GPs are in training, but there is also a plan to increase recruitment in the hon. Gentleman's constituency and across the country.
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Q8 Direct Answer
Clive Efford Lab
Eltham
Context
The previous Secretary of State promised 5,000 more GPs by 2020, a promise repeated when the current Secretary took over.
Will the Secretary of State apologise for failing to keep his promises about GP recruitment and causing appointment delays?
We have made a commitment to recruit 6,000 more GPs and 26,000 other clinical staff in general practice, which is the plan we will deliver upon.
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Q9 Direct Answer
Tim Farron Lib Dem
Westmorland and Lonsdale
Context
In rural communities, GP surgeries often serve large geographical areas with relatively few patients.
Will the Secretary commit to a strategic small surgeries fund for rural sustainability?
We need to ensure that practices are sustainable and technology can help reduce travel times. There is enthusiasm for using technology to help such practices.
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