Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help support GPs to offer face-to-face appointments in Hitchin and Harpenden constituency.
In July 2022. 66.4% of general practice appointments were conducted face-to-face in the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care System area, compared to 54.7% in 2021. Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) has confirmed that all practices in this area have been providing appointments face-to-face, by phone and video, as clinically necessary. The ICB provide a flexible ‘pool’ of locums to relieve some of the immediate pressure on individual general practitioners (GPs) who may be covering for temporary or long-term absence in their practices.
The Government made £520 million available during the pandemic to increase general practice capacity, including for providing face-to-face appointments. NHS England’s guidance states that GP practices must provide face-to-face appointments, alongside remote consultations. Patients’ input into consultation type should be sought and practices should respect preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary.