Getting more GPs

The Prime Minister has decided to go for a general election. Since then we have had a number of announcements concerning policies and promises which have little to do with real people. Meanwhile in the real world, we continue to suffer with problems in the NHS and especially in the provision of GPs.

The number of disturbingly long waits in Hampshire has been getting worse. In 2022, there were 1,546,00 appointments that took over two weeks, or 16.8% of all appointments. Last year this shot up drastically to over 1,800,000 in Hampshire, equating to 18.6% of appointments. This included a staggering 529,000 which took longer than a month, 5.3% of all appointments.

I was therefore pleased the Liberal Democrats announced last week that a five year plan to give patients a legal right to see a GP within a week or 24-hours if in urgent need will be in our General Election manifesto. The plan will deliver by: increasing the number of full-time GPs by 8,000, half by boosting recruitment and half from retaining more experienced GPs; freeing up GPs’ time by giving more prescribing rights and public health advisory services to qualified pharmacists, nurse practitioners and paramedics; introducing a universal 24/7 GP booking system; and removing bureaucracy to let practices hire the staff they need and invest in training.

The Conservative party have proven themselves totally unfit to run our NHS. They have driven our local health services into the ground. Thousands of patients are facing agonisingly long waits, often in terrible pain, whilst waiting to see their GP. It should not be too much to ask for patients to be able to see their GP when they need to. That is why I and the Liberal Democrats have committed to a fair deal for this community’s patients and a legal right to see a GP within a week.

Cllr Luigi Gregori

Lib Dem PPC North West Hants