Health services are something which we all rely on – perhaps not day-to-day for many of us, but I’m sure you would all agree that the peace of mind provided by knowing that the NHS is there when we need it is so important. That’s why I have been so concerned by constituents who have contacted me since my election to raise concerns about access to GP appointments and services.
If you follow my activity, you will know I have long been campaigning for greater access to GPs in Hartlepool – many of you may have signed my petition for more face-to-face appointments and this is an issue which I have written to Ministers and met with other stakeholders about. My most recent meeting was with representatives from the British Medical Association (BMA) who proposed that the difficulties facing some constituents in securing GP appointments was due to a shortage in GPs and other staff. I asked if they could please supply me with the statistics to evidence this issue, but to date I have not received these statistics – instead I have been in contact with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), to learn more.
The DHSC informed me that in the last two years, the number of patient care staff in general practice in Hartlepool increased by almost 45 per cent – or 46.3 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff between September 2019 and September 2022. These figures include doctors, nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists. Therefore, while there are still issues surrounding patients accessing GP appointments, I find it hard to believe that this is solely or primarily due to a shortage of staff members.
It is quite right that we must grow our NHS workforce, and the Government has already taken steps towards this end – for example, there are already 2,000 more doctors in general practice and 25,000 wider primary care staff compared to figures in 2019. I am happy to be able to flesh out these figures by adding that the Government’s Enhanced Recruitment Scheme has attracted hundreds of doctors to train in hard to recruit locations by providing a one-off financial incentive of £20,000. 800 places were available on this scheme last year, and I am pleased that we are seeing the benefit in our part of the country, with 71 of the places being across Durham and the Tees Valley.
As evidenced above, work is already well underway to put the provision in place to clear NHS waiting lists and backlogs, including in general practice, but we also have a plan for future years. The DHSC are investing at least £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments a year by 2024. This investment will build on the work done this year to provide almost four million more appointments (in January 2023 compared to January 2022), the equivalent of almost 120,000 every working day.
I’m under no illusion that there is more still to be achieved, but equally, a considerable amount of work and investment has already begun to pave the way for a more efficient and accessible general practice – this Government will continue to work to ensure that we have the staff and investment to deliver the care that patients need. As always, if you are experiencing trouble accessing the general practice care you need, please do get in contact with my office and we will do what we can to help – jill.motimer.mp@parliament.uk