Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for a GP appointment in Hitchin and Harpenden constituency in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps his Department is taking to help reduce these waiting times.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, we are investing least £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024 by increasing and diversifying the workforce to improve access to general practice appointments and reduce waiting times.

Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) has made tailored support visits to local practices to identify solutions to specific challenges and devise action plans where improvement is needed. More than 70 practices in Hertfordshire and West Essex have been approved for additional funds to upgrade telephone lines to a ‘cloud-based’ system, which has the capability to offer call backs, queue management and to increase the number of lines available if needed. These new systems also enable call volumes and waiting times to be monitored to allow practices to adjust the number of staff taking calls according to the demand.