Oxfordshire Liberal Democrat MPs have called for an “emergency package” to save the family doctor.
It comes after new research revealed that, since January, 128,863 appointments in Oxfordshire have had waits of over 28 days, up from 59,059 at the same point five years ago – more than twice as many.
Local waits of more than two weeks have more than doubled, from 227,858 in 2020 to 505,002 this year.
Olly Glover, Calum Miller, Layla Moran, Freddie van Mierlo and Charlie Maynard have called for an emergency package to end the crisis, and for the Government to deliver a new right to a GP appointment within seven days, or 24 hours if urgent, by recruiting thousands of extra doctors.
The emergency measures would include a strategic fund to reopen surgeries, dedicated local initiatives to ensure nowhere becomes a “GP desert”, and the introduction of a 24/7 GP booking system to end the “8am scramble”, with 111 call handlers trained to become GP receptionists.
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The House of Commons Library research, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, found that nationally, since Labour have been in power, patients have seen the highest number of two week and four week waits to see a GP since 2020. It follows previous record numbers of two and four week waits under the last Conservative government.
The data also found that there has been a more than twofold increase in patients waiting over 14 days for a GP appointment since the same period in 2020 across England, rising from 19.7 million appointments that took this long to 43.5 million appointments. There has been another significant increase for those waiting over 28 days, from 5.8 million five years ago to 12.9 million today.
Liberal Democrat MPs Olly Glover, Calum Miller, Layla Moran, Freddie van Mierlo and Charlie Maynard said: “Patients here in Oxfordshire are finding it really difficult to get GP appointments and we are deeply appalled by the fact that they are having to wait such a long time to see their doctor.
“The Conservatives completely failed our NHS, but Labour are just not providing any real answers to this ever-growing crisis.
“Together with Liberal Democrat colleagues we are calling for an emergency package to save our GP services: with a dedicated fund to reopen surgeries, a 24/7 booking system via 111 and a recruitment and retention drive to secure thousands of extra family doctors.
“The Government should deliver a right for every patient to be seen within seven days or 24 hours if urgent, so that no one is denied care when they need it."
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