Fury as GP funding slashed by £350million as sufferers face lengthy waits
GP funding has been dramatically slashed, resulting in longer waits for sufferers, new evaluation reveals.
In the final 4 years, funding has been slashed by £350million in actual phrases – a mean of £12 per affected person, in line with the Liberal Democrats. Meanwhile 1.5million GP appointments in November passed off 4 weeks or extra after they had been first booked – almost one in 20 of all appointments.
The findings have been branded “unforgivable” as Rishi Sunak is accused of being out of contact with sufferers’ wants. An an skilled has warned that failing to correctly fund GPs is expensive to taxpayers in the long term.
Lib Dem chief Sir Ed Davey mentioned: “It is unforgivable that the Conservative government has slashed funding for GP practices at a time of rising demand. Millions of people are being left anxious or waiting in pain because they can’t get an appointment with their GP.
“The Conservative Party’s report on the NHS is one in all whole neglect and failure. Rishi Sunak is totally out of contact with sufferers struggling to get the care they want.
“Being able to see your GP when you need to should be the very cornerstone of the NHS.” He mentioned the Lib Dems have drawn up plans giving individuals a authorized proper to see their GP inside seven days, or 24 hours in the event that they had been in pressing want.
The evaluation reveals that funding in practices for 2022/23 was 6.9% down on 2018/19, taking inflation under consideration. This meant common funding per affected person was £165, down £12 over the past 4 years.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), mentioned: “We now know that for every £1 invested in primary care, at least £14 is delivered in productivity across the working community – so it makes absolutely no sense that spending on general practice is falling in real terms.”
She added: “Across the NHS, we have seen health inequalities worsen over the past decade, and this has been felt even more so in recent years due to the cost-of-living crisis – a college survey found that 73% of GPs have seen an increase in patients presenting with conditions linked to poverty.” Prof Hawthorne known as November the “busiest on record” or GPs, who delivered greater than 31 million appointments.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman mentioned: “We are committed to improving access to GPs, and we are now delivering 50 million more GP appointments per year. The most recent data shows GP funding increased in real terms by 19% between 2017 and 2022, and our Primary Care Recovery Plan is investing £645 million to expand pharmaceutical services and take pressure off general practice.
“We are additionally investing £240 million on digital instruments, telephony and coaching to make sure GP surgical procedures have what they should enhance entry for sufferers.”
