GP Services

Debate between Stella Creasy and Michael Fabricant

Thursday 5th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Stella Creasy]

It is unusual for me to agree with the hon. Gentleman, but I agree that we need to look at how we can attract and retain doctors. We also need to look at what these problems do to the rest of the NHS.

Let me tell the hon. Gentleman about a constituent of mine who had a problem with his eyesight that was caused by high blood pressure. Because he could not get a doctor’s appointment, he left the condition alone. He has now gone blind in one eye and his other eye is at risk. His elderly wife came to me because she did not want to bother the doctor. We have to change that culture and to consider the consequences of not using our resources to deal with those early problems. When we leave somebody like that and they end up going blind, the cost to all of us to help them is much greater than if they had been able to access a GP. We must look at the terms of the job, but also at where the resources are not going. I have been raising those questions with local health care providers.

[Michael Fabricant]

I am very interested in what the hon. Lady has to say. She said that in her constituency—she must tell me if I have got this wrong—there are a large number of single-doctor practices. Does she not think that that is the cause of the problems, and that the Government should encourage practices to consist of a number of doctors working together?

[Stella Creasy]

Although I am a doctor, I am not a medical doctor, so I warn the hon. Gentleman that if he needs treatment, he should not come and see me. However, I could tell him why he has no friends—that is the sort of doctorate I have.

There are many issues and the number of single practices might be one of them. My point is that nobody has got a grip of this issue over the past couple of years, despite the fact that I, as the Member of Parliament, have raised concerns. In 2011, the complaints about access to GPs started coming in. I went to the primary care trust, but because of the reorganisation of the NHS, nobody was interested in the case that we were trying to make. The PCT said, “Wait until the CCG is organised.” I tried the new CCG, but six months after saying that it would look into the repeated complaints that I had raised, it said that this was not its issue and told me to go to NHS England.

Initially, NHS England told me that I could not raise the issues on behalf of patients because of patient confidentiality. It could not respond to any of the concerns that I was raising because they related to patient records. It then tried to say that unless the residents had complained to the GPs about GP access, it would not look into the issue, even though I had a binder full of complaints, which showed that it was a problem not just with an individual practice, but with many local practices in my local community. There was widespread concern. The problem continued and, eventually, NHS England came back to me and said, “It’s all right. We’ve spoken to the practices and they have said that if people want an appointment, they can ring up and get one.” It was a circular and deeply frustrating experience.