Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure that patients who prefer to see the same GP for each visit are able to do so for (a) in person and (b) virtual consultations.
Patient can request to see a specific general practitioner (GP) for an appointment, including their named accountable GP. Practices must endeavour to comply with all reasonable requests made by patients to see a particular practitioner. Authorised family members also have the same rights to do so.
In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement’s guidance states that a patient’s input into consultation type should be sought and practices should respect preferences for face-to-face or remote consultation, unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary.