Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average wait time is for a patient to see a GP in (a) England and (b) by integrated care board.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on general practice appointments, including the approximate length of time between appointments being booked and taking place, at a national and integrated care board level, although this is not a proxy for “waiting times”.
Several factors can affect when appointments take place, for example, patients may choose to book routine check-ups in advance for their own convenience. It is not possible to estimate the time between the patient’s first attempt to contact their surgery and an appointment.
Nationally, in November 2025, 43.1% of appointments were delivered on the same day, and 81.2% were delivered within two weeks. In the NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board, 42.7% of appointments were delivered on the same day, 0.4 percentage points below the national average. 79.5% were delivered within two weeks, 1.7 percentage points below the national figure.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish proposals on access to primary care for patients without the means of digital communication.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that not all patients are able or wish to use online services. That is why the GP Contract is clear that that patients must always have the option to contact their practice by telephone or attend in person. Online tools should always be offered in addition to existing access routes, not as a replacement for them.
In July 2023, NHS England published guidance to support primary care networks in reducing digital exclusion. This guidance reinforces these requirements and provides further practical advice, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/supporting-digital-inclusion-in-general-practice-10-top-tips/
Over 73% of people find it easy to contact their general practice. This has shown a significant improvement of 12.2 percentage points since July 2024, when the figure was 60.9%.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how long the average wait time is in England for a patient to have a GP appointment GP a) by telephone and b) face to face.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on general practice appointments. In November 2025, 33.5% of appointments delivered on the same day were conducted face to face, while 52.5% took place by telephone. In terms of the proportion of appointments delivered within two weeks, 58.5% were face to face and 26% were conducted by telephone.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve treatment options for glioblastoma.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Brain tumours, including glioblastoma, remain one of the hardest to treat cancers. The Government is taking action to improve treatment options and outcomes.
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests over £1.6 billion per year in research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In October 2025, a new nationwide trial exploring whether surgery can improve quality of life for patients when glioblastoma comes back after treatment commenced, backed by £1.98 million of NIHR funding.
Further to this, in September 2024, the NIHR announced new research funding opportunities for brain cancer research, including glioblastoma, spanning both adult and paediatric populations. This includes a NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, to ensure the most promising research opportunities are made available to adult and child patients, and a new funding call to generate high quality evidence in brain tumour care, support, and rehabilitation.
The Government supports Scott Arthur’s Private Members Bill on rare cancers which will make it easier for clinical trials into rare cancers, such as glioblastomas, to take place in England by ensuring the patient population can be easily contacted by researchers. This will ensure that the National Health Service will remain at the forefront of medical innovation and is able to provide patients with the newest, most effective treatment options and ultimately boost survival rates.
Early next year, the Government will publish a National Cancer Plan which will set out targeted actions to reduce lives lost to cancers, including rarer cancers such as glioblastoma.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GPs have left NHS practice since July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Overall, between July 2024 and October 2025, the number of fully qualified, full-time equivalent (FTE) general practitioners (GPs) increased by 1,687.
In the period covering September 2024 to September 2025, the latest period for which the data is available, 2,825 fully qualified, FTE GPs left general practice, a loss of 1,817. The leaver rate for fully qualified GPs in headcount terms was 7.5%, which is the fourth lowest rate observed since this data began to be collected in September 2015 to September 2016.
The figure does not capture GP migration between practices during this period. Due to data quality issues, a GP recorded as a leaver in these figures may have left one practice and joined another practice with poor data completion. In instances such as this, a GP will be incorrectly recorded as a leaver due to the identifying information no longer being present in the dataset. The figure does not contain estimates for practices that did not provide fully valid records.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients have waited more than 21 days for a GP practice appointment in (a) rural and (b) urban areas in 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on general practice appointments (GPAD), including the approximate length of time between appointments being booked and taking place, although this is not a proxy for “waiting times”. There are a number of factors which can influence the timing of appointments, and it is not possible to estimate the time between the patient’s first attempt to contact their surgery and an appointment.
In England, in September 2024, 44.1% of appointments took place on the same day as they were booked, and 81.8% took place within two weeks of booking, 88.8% within 21 days, and 10.8% occurred after more than 21 days. NHS England does not include information on rurality in this publication.
In our newly published Medium-Term Planning Framework we have set an ambitious new target to deliver all urgent appointments on the same day, helping to ensure the patients who need urgent care will be prioritised.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the per patient funding was in (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26 for (i) Central Suffolk and North Ipswich ICB and (ii) England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The total recurrent revenue allocation per head figures for the NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB), as well as for England overall, can be found from the ICB allocations published on the NHS England website. The column titled ‘Recurrent Allocation £/head’ in each allocations tab provides the per-patient funding figure both by ICB and for England as a whole:
- allocations for 2023/24 to 2024/25 are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/icb-allocations-combined-2023-24-and-2024-25-v1.2.xlsx; and
- allocations for 2025/26 are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/icb-allocations-combined-2025-26-v1.3.xlsx.
The figures represent the total recurrent revenue allocation per head based on National Health Service registered populations as assumed at the time allocations were set. Consecutive years are not directly comparable as the delegated responsibilities of ICBs changed over time. Capital and non-recurrent revenue are not included in this summary, and specialist services were not delegated in 2023/24 and were commissioned directly by NHS England.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that digital exclusion is not a barrier to accessing primary care.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Digital technology is being used to help health and care professionals communicate better and enable people to access the care they need quickly and easily, when it suits them.
Since 1 October, general practices (GPs) have been required to keep their online consultations tools on throughout core hours, from 8am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday, for non-urgent and routine requests.
Patients are able to get in touch with their GPs via an online form during these hours to request an appointment or raise a query.
We understand that not all patients can or want to use online services. To ensure that patients are not digitally excluded, the GP Contract is clear that patients should always have the option of telephoning or visiting their practice in person, and all online tools must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels for accessing a GP. We have also committed to work with digital transformation teams in integrated care boards and with groups at risk of digital exclusion to ensure digital solutions are inclusive.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the GP funding formula review plans to consider the challenges of providing primary care services in rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The review of the general practice funding formula, the Carr-Hill formula, is being conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. The purpose of the review is to ensure that funding for general practice is distributed equitably and is targeted towards areas that need it most. The review will consider unavoidable costs based on geographical areas, including delivering services in rural areas.
The review has commenced and will draw on a range of evidence and advice from experts. Implementation of any new funding approach will be subject to ministerial decision, in the context of the available funding and our commitment to substantively reform the General Medical Services Contract within this Parliament.