Stockton North MP, Alex Cunningham, has responded to new figures from NHS England that show that 15% of people in North East and North Cumbria could not get an appointment to see or speak to a GP or nurse the last time they tried.
Meanwhile, data from the NHS reveals that in the past year, 2,023,132 GP appointments in the North East and Yorkshire were held a month late, as patients struggled to see a GP. In June 2022 alone, 59, 947 appointments were held a month late.
Data from the NHS also found that 27% of appointments were Telephone/Video/online appointments in the North East and Yorkshire area.
The Government has admitted its failure to meet its manifesto pledge to recruit more GPs. Under the Conservatives, the number of GPs has fallen and hundreds of GP practices have closed since the 2019 general election. As a result, many ‘GP appointments’ held today are not with a GP.
The 48-hour guarantee of a GP appointment was scrapped when the Conservatives entered government in 2010. Since then, public satisfaction with GP services has fallen by 39 percentage points – down from 77 per cent in Labour’s last year in government, to just 38 per cent now, the lowest level since the survey began in 1983.
Alex said:
“I am hearing regularly from concerned constituents who are struggling to see a GP as a result of under-funding and under-staffing from the Conservative Government.
“People in Stockton North deserve better, they need a Labour government that will give the NHS what it needs to see people on time, not more of the same from the Conservatives.”
