GP Services

Debate between Stella Creasy and George Howarth

Thursday 5th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Derek Twigg) on securing what, for me, is an incredibly important debate. I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Henley (John Howell), because he and I have probably been doing the same thing in going to talk to people in our local community about local health care. I must say that my experience is of a very different health care system—one that is under real pressure and, frankly, very much in danger in my local community.

I wanted to speak in this debate to put my concerns on the record and to ask the Minister and officials at the Department of Health to look at my area, because I am so worried about these issues. As an MP, I see it as my job first and foremost to help the patients of Walthamstow—my neighbours, as well as my family and friends in the area—who can see how our services are falling apart. As their MP, my very real worry is that, as much as I have tried to raise such concerns, all I hear is that those problems are for someone else or for some other organisation to resolve. I want to put on the record some of the issues, and to explain the situation in our local community and how it is having an impact on doctors. By doing so, I hope to convince the Minister to pay special attention to Waltham Forest.

There are 45 GP member practices in Waltham Forest CCG. We have one of the fastest growing populations in the country, but many of the practices are in poorly maintained buildings and are single-handed. They serve a community that has a very high incidence of what we might call lifestyle diseases—diabetes, heart disease, cancer—and GP access is absolutely critical to the outcomes achieved for patients.

[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend be a bit more specific? Type 2 diabetes is lifestyle-related, but type 1 is not.

[Stella Creasy]

I apologise for using shorthand. My right hon. Friend is completely right. I am talking about type 2 diabetes. For example, many people from the south Asian community in my constituency have type 2 diabetes.

We are told that our local GP work force needs to grow by 40% by the end of the next Parliament if it is to serve the community I represent. However, I can already see very real problems with our local community service, and that is bad for the patients and for the rest of the NHS. We know how difficult it is to recruit and retain doctors, but in my part of town, with the high cost of living in London, it will get even harder.

Since 2011, complaints about GP access have rolled into my constituency office. Let me give the Minister some examples. Just the other day, a resident rang me and said: “Look, the receptionists were perfectly polite. They said call at 9 o’clock or queue up before the surgery opens to get an appointment, but the line was constantly engaged from 9 o’clock. My phone shows I called 28 times between 9 am and 9.30 am, and I could not get through. When I did get through, it was only to be told that there were no more appointments left.” That is not unusual in my community.

Little wonder that residents in Walthamstow routinely report that it takes two weeks to get an appointment with a doctor. Nationally, we know that one in four people wait a week or more. The problem—this is why I disagree with the hon. Gentleman—is that it is very hard for people to know whether or not they need to see a doctor, especially if they are worried about a child.

Let me give another example of a complaint I received just the other day: “I have had constant problems trying to get a GP appointment for my 13-month-old daughter since she was born. A couple of times, even only last week, I was asked by reception staff at the doctors why I hadn’t gone to A and E.” That is the constant question for residents in my local community when they cannot get through to the surgery—should they wait or should they go to A and E?

I agree with the hon. Gentleman that not everybody needs to see a doctor, but another resident told me: “I fell and cut my hand deeply on glass. I went to the doctors to ask if a nurse could check that there was no glass left in. They told me to go to hospital. The cut was really not that bad. But they said they don’t have any nurses on a Friday and I would have to make an appointment to see a nurse—two weeks as usual, no doubt—so I just left it, as I do with most pains, coughs or small lumps, and hoped it would sort itself out. My hand is healing now and seems to be glass-free. I hope so anyway.” That is not unusual in my area. At least that elderly lady could have seen a nurse, but many constituents tell me that they do not bother to see a doctor because of how long that takes, and they take the risk of waiting.