‘We need to see funding for general practice in autumn’ says College Chair

College Chair Kamila Hawthorne responds to the latest analysis of waiting times for GP appointments by the Liberal Democrats and their calls for emergency GP funding in the October Budget. 

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs said: "GPs share our patients' frustrations when they struggle to access our care and services, but GPs and our teams are working incredibly hard to ensure patients are receiving safe and timely care. In July this year we delivered close to 32 million appointments, around 44% of which were delivered on the day they were booked, around 70% within a week and over 80% within two weeks, yet with fewer qualified full-time equivalent GPs than we had five years ago.  

"The reality is that we don’t have enough GPs to deliver care to the increasing numbers of patients need who need it, especially as they have increasingly complex health needs - so we agree, we want to see funding for general practice in this autumn’s Budget. But frankly, introducing arbitrary targets would worsen the situation. They would prioritise speedy access over continuity of care, which we know has benefits for patients and the health service - and they would disincentivise practices from offering future appointments when they are clinically appropriate, for example for routine or follow-up appointments. 

“GPs and our teams are working under intense workload and workforce pressures - the result of years of underfunding and poor workforce planning, and our patients, particularly our most vulnerable patients, are bearing the brunt. It is clear that general practice is in dire need of more investment - and this was echoed in Lord Darzi’s report on the NHS this week. With the right investment and initiatives – including to recruit and retain more GPs - we can turn things around, allowing GPs to deliver the safe, timely and appropriate care our patients need and that we are trained to, and want to, provide.” 

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
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Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.