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 ensure freedom of choice of GP for patients.

Patients can apply to register with the general practitioner (GP) practice of their choice. All practices are required to assign to registered patients a named, accountable GP to ensure that any necessary services the practice is contracted to provide are coordinated and delivered for patients. Practices must make reasonable efforts to accommodate patients’ requests to be assigned a specific accountable GP and endeavour to comply with all reasonable requests to see a particular practitioner. However, patients may have the choice between a named GP or increased speed of access. The right to choose a GP practice and to express a preference for a particular doctor within that practice are reflected in the NHS Constitution.

We have also committed to publish practice-level appointment data, which will improve transparency on the performance of a GP practice and allow patients to make informed choices when registering.