Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report by Cancer Research UK on the barriers to people making GP appointments, published in the Public Health Journal in October 2016.

David Mowat

Analysis of the cancer awareness measure found that the most commonly perceived barriers to seeing a general practitioner (GP) were finding it difficult to get an appointment with a particular doctor, or at a convenient time, and disliking having to talk to GP receptionists about symptoms.

Catching more cancers early is a priority and this year NHS England is investing an extra £15 million in improving early diagnosis and setting up Cancer Alliances to bring together leadership across local areas to drive improvements.

The Government is committed to improving access to GP services as part of our plan for a seven day National Health Service, and has invested £175 million in the GP Access Fund to test improved and innovative access to GP services. The 2015-16 (July 2016) GP Patient Survey found that 92.1% of patients who got an appointment found it was convenient, and 91% of patients who had a GP they preferred to see saw them at least some of the time.

The General Practice Forward View, published in April, announced £45 million of extra funding nationally over five years so that every practice in the country can help their reception and clerical staff play a greater role in care navigation, signposting patients and handling clinical paperwork to free up GP time.