Labour has promised to dedicate a greater share of funding to GPs, GP Online reports.
Visiting Abbey Medical Centre, a GP surgery in north London, the health secretary told the press: “Patients can’t get through the front door of the NHS, so they aren’t getting the timely care they need. That’s no surprise when GPs and primary care have been receiving a smaller proportion of NHS resources. I’m committed to reversing that.”
He added that improving continuity was another priority for the new Government: “We are committed to bringing back the family doctor, so patients can see the same doctor each appointment, fixing the front door to the NHS.”
Prior to the event, General Practitioners’ Committee chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer wrote to Mr Streeting calling for the NHS proportion of funding that general practice receives to increase by 1% year on year to a maximum of 15%.
Following the minister’s comments, deputy chair of the GPC Dr David Wrigley warned him not to invest in GPs by disinvesting in hospitals: “We applaud Mr Streeting’s ambition to shift more NHS care into the community, but hospitals need funding just as desperately as general practice does… Just 6% of the overall budget is guaranteed for general practice, and we want to understand how Mr Streeting plans to boost that without cutting hospital funding.”
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “It’s heartening to hear Mr Streeting’s commitment towards patients seeing the same GP every appointment, and to hear that he understands that patients aren’t getting the timely care they need.
“But he can’t have both and, indeed, solving one of these problems will just make the other worse, and, it’s possibly what’s contributed to us being in the mess we’re in now.
“Rather, Mr Streeting needs to see the research that shows that GP locums provide the same quality of care as our incumbent colleagues, and with so many of us looking for work, can solve the problem of access, which will also free up the practice’s regular GPs to provide that all important continuity for the patients that need so desperately need it.”