'GPs are now most accessible part of healthcare'

A doctor from Shropshire has claimed seeing a GP is now the "most accessible part of healthcare".

Dr Jess Harvey told BBC Politics Midlands that "in theory" the "phone rush" that saw patients call surgeries first thing to get an appointment had alleviated.

In October, North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan labelled GP waiting times "appalling" after her Liberal Democrat party claimed 92,000 appointments in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin had been delayed by at least four weeks since January 2024.

Mary Creagh, environment minister and Labour MP for Coventry East, said there was "still clearly work to do" but added waiting lists were down.

Speaking on Politics Midlands on Sunday, Creagh said: "We said we would deliver two million extra appointments and we've delivered five million.

"So we've really done our best to relieve the pressure."

Harvey, a doctor at Much Wenlock and Cressage Medical Practice, said surgeries could not "magic appointments", with only a certain amount of money for receptionists, doctors and nurses.

She said another problem was space in the building, with some staff being asked to work from home just so she could squeeze in an extra doctor.

"It's great if you're in an area that's getting lots of investment, lots of new builds and lots of rooms but if you have no space to put the extra staff then trying to increase that capacity becomes incredibly difficult," she said.

Mark Garnier, Conservative MP for Wyre Forest, suggested productivity remained "the big problem".

"We've seen productivity drop by about 18% since 2019, before Covid," he claimed.

Harvey questioned this claim, describing it as "really unhelpful".

Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest overall NHS productivity was 5.4% lower in 2023 than in 2019, but the government points to more recent data showing improvements in recent years.

The GP added: "As the profession that feels like the whipping boy of the NHS, actually our productivity... has increased massively."

She said there were "millions more appointments" this year compared to last and called on MPs to champion GP surgeries rather than criticise them.

Also speaking on the show, Femi Oluwole, Brexit campaigner and newly-joined Green Party member, agreed, adding: "If you want to deal with the problems you see in the NHS, we need to start having a real conversation about valuing those doctors and nurses."

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