Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people can access face-to-face GP services.

NHS England and NHS Improvement’s guidance states that general practices should provide face to face appointments, alongside remote consultations. Patient input should be sought on the type of consultation with preferences for face to face care respected, unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary.  Excluding COVID-19 vaccinations, in February 2022 61.3% of appointments were conducted in person.

We have made £520 million available to improve access and expand general practice capacity during the pandemic. This is in addition to £1.5 billion announced in 2020 to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024 by increasing and diversifying the workforce.