Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of patients' ability to book face-to-face GP appointments as covid-19 lockdown measures are eased.

In April, there were an estimated 31.5 million general practitioner appointments an increase of 28.3% from April 2019 and over half of all appointments were face to face.

On 20 May, NHS England and NHS Improvement published an updated standard operating procedure for general practice as COVID-19 restrictions are eased. Face to face and remote appointments should be available to patients and their preferences for care be respected.