Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the Government has made on meeting the target to deliver 50 million extra general practice appointments a year; and what steps he is taking to increase access to a GP in Workington.

In the 12 months to September 2022, there were an estimated 325.2 million appointments in general practice in England, excluding COVID-19 vaccinations. This is an increase of 7.3% compared to the 12 months to September 2021. On 22 September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which sets out how we will deliver an addition one million appointments this winter and the expectation that patients who need an appointment within two weeks will receive one, with urgent cases being seen on the same day, including in Workington.

We have committed to publishing practice-level appointment data to assist patients to make an informed choice on the appropriate practice for their needs. We have also set out measures to help patients book appointments more easily and benefit from more options for care, such as community pharmacy. NHS England has offered a short-term telephony solution to all general practitioner (GP) practices, to increase capacity for incoming calls. From December, NHS England will accelerate the delivery of a framework to support all practices to secure cloud-based telephony systems. We will also assist general practices to recruit a range of health professionals to increase appointment capacity, such as GP assistants and advanced practitioners.