Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve GP services in coastal communities.

Through our 10-Year Health Plan, it will be easier and faster to see a general practitioner (GP). We will end the 8:00am scramble for appointments, train more doctors, and will guarantee a consultation within 24 hours for those who need one. It is important that funding for core services is distributed equitably between practices across the country, which is why we have committed to reviewing the GP funding formula to ensure that resources are targeted where they are most needed.

We have also delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, an almost £1.1 billion uplift, the biggest increase in GP funding in over a decade, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources.

In October 2024, we invested £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to support the recruitment of 2,000 individual GPs into primary care networks across England, helping to increase appointment availability and improve care for thousands of patients. The new £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will create additional clinical space within over 1,000 practices across England. This investment will deliver more appointments and improve patient care.

The Government will bring back the family doctor for those who would benefit from seeing the same clinician regularly. In doing so, we will improve continuity of care, which is associated with better health outcomes and can play an important role in managing health conditions in patients.