Stephen Morgan has welcomed the increased GP capacity that will help fix the front door of the NHS and increase appointments to bring back the family doctor.
Bringing back the family doctor and ending the 8am scramble for appointments were key manifesto commitments in the General Election.
The news of 1,500 extra GPs recruited comes after the Labour government removed red tape which prevented surgeries from hiring doctors soon after coming into office.
The recruitment boost, part of the government’s Plan for Change, will help end the scandal of patients in Portsmouth struggling to see a doctor.
People will be more readily able to receive the timely care they deserve, helping to shift healthcare from hospitals to the community, easing pressure on local GPs and cutting waiting lists.
The Labour Government has also provided the biggest boost to GP funding in years – an extra £889million on top of the existing budget for general practice along with new reforms to free up GPs from red tape and box-ticking targets so they can spend more time caring for patients.
Since Labour came into power, the Government has delivered over two million extra appointments, meeting its target seven months early, and the waiting list has fallen five months running, down by 193,000.
Commenting, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“Portsmouth people know how important the front door to our NHS is. But when I knock on doors in our community, local residents regularly vent their frustration after enduring the ‘8am scramble’ and the difficulty that they have in getting a GP appointment.
“I promised residents in Portsmouth that we would help bring back the family doctor and I’m delighted to see over 1,500 examples of Labour continuing to deliver on that promise.”
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:
“Rebuilding our broken NHS starts with fixing the front door. We inherited a ludicrous situation where patients couldn’t get a GP appointment, while GPs couldn’t get a job. By cutting red tape and investing more in our NHS, we have put an extra 1,503 GPs into general practice to deliver more appointments.
“The extra investment and reforms we have made will allow patients to book appointments more easily, to help bring back the family doctor and end the 8am scramble.
“It is only because of the necessary decisions we took to increase employer National Insurance that we are able to recruit more GPs and deliver better services for patients.
“The extra investment and reform this government is making, as part of its Plan for Change, will get the NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future.”