Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of access to GP appointments in Shrewsbury; and how does this compare with the rest of England.

We are increasing general practice (GP) capacity and funding to GPs to improve access, support better health outcomes, and increase patient satisfaction. We are investing an additional £601 million in GPs in 2026/27, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to approximately £14 billion. This builds on the £1.1 billion increase in 2025/26, the largest uplift in over a decade. Satisfaction with ease of access is increasing. As of July 2026, 75.9% of patients reported it was “easy” to contact their GP, up from 60.9% in July 2024.

In the year to July 2026, 13.8 million additional appointments were delivered nationally, which is an increase of 3.6% compared with the previous 12 months. Shrewsbury sits within NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board, and in the year to July 2026, 2.9% more appointments were delivered than in the previous 12 months. Further information is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/appointments-in-general-practice