Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of GP appointments in Plymouth Sutton and Devonport constituency in the last 12 months; and what that number was in 2013.

This information is not held in the format requested. In the 12 months to August 2022, there were 8.16 million general practice appointments in the NHS Devon Integrated Care System area, excluding COVID-19 vaccinations. Of these, 62.5% of these were conducted face-to-face.

On 22 September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which contains measures to assist people make an informed choice on their general practitioner (GP) practice, book an appointment more easily, benefit from more care options and increase the diversity of general practice teams. This aims to increase the availability of appointment types, such as face-to-face, in England, including in Plymouth Sutton and Devonport.

NHS England’s guidance states that GP practices must provide face to face appointments and remote consultations and should respect preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary.  While remote consultations can provide additional choice, flexibility and convenience for patients, this is not suitable for all patients or in all circumstances.