Oral Answers to Questions

Lisa Smart Excerpts

Tuesday 25th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising some of the practical challenges that stand in our way to improving and expanding the primary care estate. We are looking into the issues that he raises. We want to ensure that we can modernise the estate as effectively and quickly as possible. When there is progress to report, I have no doubt that the Minister for Care will be in touch.

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

Over the summer, my team and I conducted a health survey across my constituency, and 40% of those living in the most deprived and most urban parts of my patch—Heaviley, Little Moor and Great Moor—were struggling to access GPs. What more can the Secretary of State do to ensure that urban and deprived communities get their fair share of GP access?

[Wes Streeting]

I am sure that the hon. Member’s constituents will have noticed what an assiduous and active Member of Parliament she has been in actively soliciting their views. I hope that they and she will find it reassuring to know that we are taking action to deal with the very inequalities that she mentions. The Royal College of General Practitioners found that in the poorest parts of the country, there are an extra 300 patients per GP. It cannot be right that the poorest parts of the country receive the poorest service too. That is why we are reforming the Carr-Hill formula so that deprivation is the driver of funding and prioritisation. That will help us to improve services for everyone and to tackle the gross health inequalities that blight our society.