GPs would have to offer patients face-to-face appointments under Labour plan

Family doctors will be forced to provide face-to-face appointments for every patient who wants one, under Labour plans set out tonight.

One in three GP appointments are conducted online or over the phone, as practices have failed to return to routine face-to-face appointments with patients following the coronavirus pandemic. While some patients prefer consultations over the phone, many are frustrated at not being able to see their doctor in person.

Just 22% of patients are given a choice in the type of appointment they have, and nearly one in six people who tried to speak to a nurse or GP were unable to get an appointment at all last year.

Get a daily morning politics briefing straight to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror Politics newsletter

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who addresses delegates at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool tomorrow, told the Mirror: “Patients are finding it impossible to get a GP appointment when they need one, in the manner they want one.

“The Conservatives have closed hundreds of practices since the 2019 election and are breaking their manifesto promise to hire more GPs.

“Labour will train the doctors our NHS needs to treat patients on time by doubling the number of medical school places. We will require GPs to give patients the choice of where and when they want their appointments.

“Patients must come first.”

Labour this week pledged the “the biggest expansion of medical school places in British history, doubling the number of medical students, so our NHS has the doctors it needs”.

The number of places at UK medical schools are capped – in England this year there are 7,500 places.

The Conservatives promised at the 2019 general election to recruit 6,000 more GPs.

But Labour says GP numbers have been falling since, with 4,700 fewer GPs today than a decade ago.

Some 330 practices have closed across England since the 2019 ballot.

Labour will also vow to make booking appointments simpler – ending the “8am rush and allowing patients to book appointments in advance”.

The party said: “Every GP practice will be required to enable patients to book appointments online through the NHS app.”