Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the level of ease of access to GPs on attendances at A&E departments.

The Urgent and Emergency Care Review identified a number of factors that impact on accident and emergency (A&E) attendances, which can include local access to general practitioners (GPs).

According to the latest GP Patient Survey results, published on 2 July 2015, 85.2% of patients were able to get an appointment with a GP or nurse at their surgery. 91.8% of those were able to get an appointment convenient to them. Of the 10.9% who reported that they could not get an appointment and the 8.2% who could not get an appointment that was convenient, 9.9% went to A&E or a walk-in centre.