Health and Social Care Update

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts

Thursday 22nd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dr Coffey]

I am conscious that there is London weighting, but it is up to the local NHS, including NHS trusts, to make decisions about how they reward people and encourage them to work in their hospitals.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

Under the last Labour Government, patients were guaranteed a GP appointment within 48 hours, but when the Conservatives came to power they scrapped that standard. This is all part of the managed decline of our NHS. After 12 years, GP numbers are down, and more than 300 GP practices have closed since 2019 alone, with many of my constituents unable to get a GP appointment when they want one. Does the Secretary of State agree that the 2019 Tory manifesto promise to deliver an extra 50 million GP appointments and over 6,000 more GPs is not worth the paper it is written on?