Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness and timeliness of the patient care offered by GP practices.

While no formal assessment has been made, the National Health Service has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including in general practice, in each local area. In addition, as the independent regulator of health and social care the Care Quality Commission assesses the overall quality of individual practices.

As announced in ‘Our plan for patients’ on 22 September 2022, the Government expects that patients who need an appointment with their practice within two weeks should receive one and patients with urgent needs should be seen on the same day. We also expect local integrated care boards to intervene where services need to be improved.