Over 1,500 GPs have been hired over six months as the government seeks to end the 8am scramble for an appointment.
The government said the figures show a major recruitment drive to help fix the “front door” of the broken NHS. The Department of Health and Social Care said that since October 1 some 1,503 GPs have been recruited after years of “neglect”.
Writing for The Mirror, the Health Minister Stephen Kinnock credited the boost to slashing “unnecessary red tape preventing practices from hiring newly qualified GPs and by providing an extra £82 million in funding”.
He said: “Turning around our broken NHS is not an easy task but we are not shying away from the challenge and we are determined to improve things for patients. We’ve rolled up our sleeves, and we’re cutting through the bureaucracy. By delivering on our ambitions, including providing 1,500 more GPs, we will make it easier for every patient to hear those words – ‘the doctor will see you now’.”
Labour’s election manifesto promised to train thousands more GPs while also guaranteeing face-to-face appointments “for all those who want one and deliver a modern appointment booking system to end the 8am scramble”.
BLUESKY: Follow our Mirror Politics account on Bluesky here. And follow our Mirror Politics team here – Lizzy Buchan, Mikey Smith, Kevin Maguire, Sophie Huskisson, Dave Burke and Ashley Cowburn.
POLITICS WHATSAPP: Be first to get the biggest bombshells and breaking news by joining our Politics WhatsApp group here. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you want to leave our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
NEWSLETTER: Or sign up here to the Mirror’s Politics newsletter for all the best exclusives and opinions straight to your inbox.
PODCAST: And listen to our exciting new political podcast The Division Bell, hosted by the Mirror and the Express every Thursday.
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, added: “Rebuilding our broken NHS starts with fixing the front door. We inherited a ludicrous situation where patients couldn’t get a GP appointment, while GPs couldn’t get a job. By cutting red tape and investing more in our NHS, we have put an extra 1,503 GPs into general practice to deliver more appointments.”
Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services, added: “I would like to thank the general practice teams that have employed significantly more than the 1,000 extra GPs promised to provide care for patients.”
She said: “Improving access to general practice is an NHS priority and GP teams are delivering 29 million appointments every month – up a fifth since before the pandemic. But we have more to do to make it easier for patients to see their local GP, so practice teams should continue to use this funding to best effect by recruiting more GPs, so more patients can be seen more quickly.”
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
