Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to bring to an end single-handed general practitioner practices in (1) England, and (2) London; and to what timescales they are working.

The latest figures, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in September 2013, show that there are 891 single-handed general practitioner (GP) practices in England, representing 11.2% of the total number of GP practices in England.

There are 1,445 GP practices in London, of which 238 are single-handed GP practices, representing 16.5% of the GP practices in London.

NHS England is responsible for commissioning primary care services and has advised that there are no plans to close existing small or single-handed practices. The aim is to look at how primary care services can continue to be developed to offer patients better access and more choice.