Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his department has made of the adequacy of GP provision in Gillingham and Rainham; and what steps his department is taking to improve access to primary care services for residents in areas of higher deprivation within that area.

Gillingham and Rainham sits within NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board, where there was a 0.5% increase in general practice appointments in the 12-months to May 2026 compared to the previous year. In May 2026 there were a total of 1005 full-time equivalent (FTE) general practitioners (GPs), an increase from 933 in May 2025.

Kent and Medway ICB keeps GP provision under regular review, and as part of this has commissioned an independent review by the National Association of Primary Care into under-doctoring across the system. The review found that under-doctoring is not simply a numerical GP headcount issue, but a structural and geographically uneven capacity challenge shaped by clinical complexity, demographic pressure, workforce configuration, and changing professional expectations. It also found that some localities, including areas of higher deprivation, feel these impacts more.

In response to the review, the ICB is implementing a 24-month General Practice Improvement Plan, which will focus on improving access and responsiveness, strengthening practice resilience, supporting workforce stability and supervision, improving digital and telephony performance, reducing avoidable workload from primary-secondary care interface issues, and developing neighbourhood-based care models with general practice at their core.