Wes Streeting speech: Labour promises face-to-face GP appointments

Labour says it would require GPs in England to provide face-to-face appointments for anyone who wants them, if it wins power.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said he would be patients' "shop steward" and give them more choice over how they access care.

In a party conference speech, he also attacked the Tories' record on the NHS.

The government is promising to improve access to GPs, including same-day appointments.

New Health Secretary Therese Coffey has said GPs will be able to take on extra staff, but has not promised face-to-face access for all.

The British Medical Association said Labour's promise was "not grounded in reality", and accused the party of suggesting GPs are "not trying hard enough".

In his conference speech in Liverpool, Mr Streeting said patients were "finding it impossible to get a GP appointment when they need one, in the manner they want one".

"The days of waiting on the phone at 8am to book an appointment with your GP will be over, and we will bring back the family doctor," he told delegates at the Liverpool conference.

He added the party would also give patients "the opportunity to self-refer to specialist services where appropriate".

Currently, people can generally only access specialist care with a GP's letter, with self-referral limited to sexual health clinics or A&E treatment.

In an attack on the Conservatives' NHS record, he said the party had closed hundreds of practices since the 2019 election.

Patients would be able to choose to have their appointment over the phone or video if it is more convenient, under Labour's plans. The party is also promising to make booking appointments simpler.

'Not enough doctors'

On Monday, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves announced what she claimed was a plan for the biggest expansion of the workforce in the history of the NHS.

Ms Reeves promised to double the number of district nurses qualifying every year, train more than 5,000 new health visitors, create an additional 10,000 nursing and midwifery placements every year

The number of medical school places would also be doubled.

Ms Reeves said the plan would be paid for by restoring the 45% top rate of income tax, which the Conservatives plan to scrap next April.

Responding to Labour's plans for GP appointments, Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said doctors "want to do the very best for their patients and we share their frustrations when they find it difficult to get appointments when they need them".

"What we really need to address are the huge workload and workforce pressures that are the real reason why patients are facing such long waits to see a GP," he said.

Dr Farah Jameel, the British Medical Association's England GP committee chair, said doctors are "desperate" to provide patients with the care they need. But he said: "We simply don't have enough doctors.

"While it's good to see Labour recognising the workforce challenges, it's disappointing to see politicians once again making divisive headline-grabbing promises that are not grounded in reality, and which suggest the existing workforce are somehow not trying hard enough."