Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Evans Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)]

To improve access, the Government have announced a planned expansion of advice and guidance, and GPs will be paid £20 per advice and guidance request they make for further expert advice from consultants. How do the Government expect this expansion to take place? Will they be mandating it given that the current position of the British Medical Association, under its collective action, is that GPs should

“Stop engaging with the e-Referral Advice & Guidance pathway”?

[Wes Streeting]

I think the shadow Minister will find that GPs welcome the £889 million uplift announced just before Christmas. That is the biggest boost to general practice in years. It is part of this Government’s agenda to fix the front door to the NHS and recognise the dire state that GPs were left under. Of course, with that investment comes reform. I think GPs would be delighted to manage more of their patients in the community if given the tools to do the job, and that is something this Government are committed to doing.

[Dr Evans]

Going back to advice and guidance, GPs use advice and guidance when they have come to the summit of their knowledge and need specialist input. For example, as a GP, I may see a rheumatology patient and ask for advice from a rheumatologist, who may advise specialist blood tests. The problem is that, as the inquiry clinician, I am legally responsible for those blood tests and have to pay for them out of the primary care budget. Do the Government propose that the £20 will cover subsequent follow-ups and the cost of suggested tests? Given the expansion of advice and guidance, will the Government be looking at a legal framework change in accountability for clinicians making requests?

[Wes Streeting]

First, as the shadow Minister has said, advice and guidance happens in general practice, and we want to see more of it. We have to give GPs the tools to do the job, and that is what we are doing. My hon. Friend the Minister for Care will be talking to the BMA shortly in the context of contract negotiations in the usual way. What the shadow Minister neglects to mention is that these reforms and improvements to general practice are made possible thanks to the £889 million we are putting in, which is investment that he and his party oppose.