Oral Answers to Questions

Michelle Welsh Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Olly Glover (Didcot and Wantage) (LD)]

11. What recent steps he has taken to increase access to GP appointments.

[Michelle Welsh (Sherwood Forest) (Lab)]

13. What steps his Department is taking to improve patient access to GPs.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

We strengthened the NHS front door with £1.2 billion for general practice, the biggest cash increase in over a decade. We promised to recruit an extra 1,000 GPs in our first year—we recruited 2,000. Patients are now able to request appointments online, which is a huge step towards delivering our manifesto commitment to end the 8 am scramble.

[Wes Streeting]

Let me come back to the hon. Gentleman after I have found out what has gone wrong in this case. As he points out, ICBs are responsible for commissioning, planning, securing and monitoring GP services within their health system, through delegated responsibility from NHS England, and capital is allocated to ICBs on a basis that takes account of annual population growth. I can understand his frustration and that of his constituents, so let me find out what has gone wrong and come back to him.

[Michelle Welsh]

After 14 years of a Conservative Government, poor access to GPs is something that we have come to know well in certain areas of my constituency of Sherwood Forest. In Hucknall, demand for GP appointments is overwhelming to the point that one practice has had to close its online system. Promises of a super-healthcare system were made by the previous Government but never delivered. Meanwhile, local Ashfield independent politicians have disgracefully used this as a political football. Does the Secretary of State agree with me that there has been far too much talk and not enough action, and that it is now time that both the integrated care board and Ashfield district council deliver on this?

[Wes Streeting]

It is of no surprise to me that my hon. Friend raises yet another example of Conservative broken promises, and the hot air that comes from independents, who have all the luxury of being commentators but none of the responsibility of ever having to deliver anything. I would be happy to meet her to look into what has gone wrong here. This has gone on for far too many years, and I can well understand her frustrations.