Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that patients who are digitally excluded can retain (a) telephone and (b) in-person routes to book GP appointments.

We know that some patients may struggle or prefer not to use digital options. We are committed to ensuring that patients who are digitally excluded can retain telephone and in-person routes to book general practice (GP) appointments, by mandating that GPs must maintain these traditional access methods, alongside digital options. The move to digital-first access is designed to free up phone lines for those who want and need them, not replace them.