General Practitioners: Mid Bedfordshire

(asked on 15th November 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase the availability of face-to-face GP appointments in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.


Answered by
Andrea Leadsom Portrait
Andrea Leadsom
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 20th November 2023

We are investing at least £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024, by growing and diversifying the workforce. In the twelve months to September 2023, there were 356.6 million appointments booked across England, up by 14.8% (46.2 million) compared to the twelve months up to September 2019.

The National Health Service is clear that general practices must provide face-to-face appointments, alongside remote consultations. Patients’ input into consultation type should also be sought and their preferences for face-to-face care respected unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary. The constituency of Mid Bedfordshire sits within the ICB of Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes Health and Care Partnership.

In September 2023, there were 499,000 appointments carried out. 79.7% of these appointments were face-to-face, compared to 78.2% in September 2022; this has increased by 1.5% within the year.

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