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 improve access to face-to-face GP appointments in the South West.

NHS England and NHS Improvement’s guidance states that general practitioner practices must provide face to face appointments, alongside remote consultations. Patients’ input into consultation type should be sought and practices should respect preferences for face-to-face care, unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary. In May 2022, in the South West National Health Service region 64% of appointments, excluding COVID-19 vaccinations, were conducted face-to-face, compared to 59% in May 2021.

We have made £520 million available to improve access and expand general practice capacity during the pandemic. This is in addition to at least £1.5 billion announced in 2020 to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024 by increasing and diversifying the workforce.