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 practices open in Washington and Sunderland West constituency; and what that number was in 2013.

There are 16 practices registered in Washington and Sunderland West in September 2013. In October 2022, 10 practices were registered in this region.

Care should be taken when interpreting this data. Practices close for a variety of reasons, including practice mergers or retirement. A reduction in practice numbers does not mean a reduction in the quality of care. When a practice does close, patients are informed of the closure and advised to register at another local practice of their choice within their area. Practices and commissioners must put in place appropriate measures to ensure that the affected patients have access to GP services.