Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of GPs allowing more face-to-face appointments following the outbreak of covid-19.

On 1 August the Government changed the National Health Service incident level from Level 4 (national) to Level 3 (regional) due to the COVID-19 demand on the NHS, after the Chief Medical Officers and the Government’s Joint Biosecurity Centre downgraded the United Kingdom’s overall COVID-19 alert level in June. As a result, NHS England and NHS Improvement issued guidance on 31 August stating that general practitioner (GP) practices must offer face-to-face appointments at surgeries and continue to use remote triage, video, online and telephone consultations where appropriate – whilst also considering those unable to access or engage with digital services.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently carrying out an evaluation of online and video consultations in general practice to understand their impact. This evaluation and other research work into the significant innovations in how GP practices offer care is an opportunity for the Government, NHS England and NHS Improvement and professional representatives to ensure innovations can be adapted into a sustainable model into the future, to better meets patient needs and provide the best quality of care and ease of access for patients.