NHS Confederation responds to Labour's analysis of GP appointment waits

Responding to the Labour Party's analysis of waits for GP appointments, Ruth Rankine, director of primary care at the NHS Confederation, said:

“General practice is delivering more appointments than pre-pandemic yet we know from our members that demand continues to increase and access continues to be a source of frustration for both patients and general practice staff.  

"The aims set out by the Labour Party are laudable but with 124,000 vacancies across the NHS, staffing is the biggest challenge in all areas of health care provision. We are still waiting for the long overdue workforce plan and we know that the government is likely to miss its target of an extra 6,000 GPs by 2025. Not only is a fully funded, ambitious plan for future staffing absolutely critical to addressing access challenges, more must be done to protect and retain the workforce we have today otherwise we risk making promises to the public that are simply undeliverable.

“This is why there must be honesty about what general practice can achieve in the current climate of rising demand and supporting the rest of the system while people wait for long overdue operations while their symptoms continue to worsen. There simply aren’t enough staff to manage patients as quickly as we would like, meaning that sensible measures to improve access can only do so much.”

About us

We are the membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The members we represent employ 1.5 million staff, care for more than 1 million patients a day and control £150 billion of public expenditure. We promote collaboration and partnership working as the key to improving population health, delivering high-quality care and reducing health inequalities.