Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will provide additional funding for the provision of out-of-hours GP appointments in (a) Wellingborough constituency and (b) Northamptonshire.

Under the general practice contract, practices must provide services during core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30 on all weekdays, except bank holidays. Out of hours services are those provided outside of core hours, which practices are paid for via the Global Sum Payment. Practices can opt out of providing these services with their commissioner’s approval, and the relevant deductions will be made to the Global Sum Payments. The amount of Global Sum funding received has been uplifted every year since 2013. Where a practice has opted out of delivering out of hours services, the commissioner must commission the services from an alternative provider, for that practice’s registered patients.