Primary Health Care

(asked on 11th February 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for primary healthcare services.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 24th February 2020

The Government is committed to improving access to general practice which is why we have committed to delivering 50 million additional appointments in general practice within the next five years. To ensure we can deliver the additional appointments, we have committed to growing the workforce by 6,000 more doctors in general practice and increasing the skills mix with 26,000 more primary care professionals.

NHS England, working with stakeholders, is undertaking a national review of access to general practice services. The main objectives of the review are to consider improving patient access both in hours and at evenings and weekends and to reduce the variations in patient experiences around the country and the inequalities in access for specific groups in society. Initial actions arising from the review were published in the updated general practitioner (GP) contract agreement 2020/21 - the review will complete in 2020, to inform contract discussions in 2020/21.

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