Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Care during the Adjournment debate on 20 March 2025, Official Report, column 610, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that all patients are offered face-to-face appointments when one is requested (a) in Boston and Skegness constituency and (b) England; how many face-to-face GP appointments have there been in each of the last 12 months; and how these figures compare with pre-COVID-19 levels.

We recognise the significant value of face-to-face appointments. That is why the Government has guaranteed a face-to-face appointment for all those who want one, both nationally and in Boston and Skegness. We have invested an extra £1.1 billion into primary care, recruited an extra 2,500 general practitioners (GPs), resulting in 6.5 million more GP appointments delivered to patients, than in the previous year. Our continued investment is designed to enhance access to all GP appointments, irrespective of their mode, enabling patients to choose either face-to-face or remote consultations in line with their preferences and clinical needs.

The National Health Service is clear that GPs must provide face-to-face appointments, alongside remote consultations, and patients’ input into consultation type should be sought and their preferences for face-to-face care respected unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary.

Face-to-face GP appointments in Boston and Skegness are up 7.5% since before COVID-19, rising from 569,000 in 2019 to 612,000 in 2025. Nationally, face-to-face GP appointments dropped by 1.3%, from 241 million in 2019 to 238.6 million in 2025.