New Health Secretary vows to divert billions of pounds to GPs

Wes Streeting has pledged to divert billions of pounds from hospitals to GP surgeries as he said millions of patients will be able to see the same family doctor for every appointment.

In his first major policy announcement, the Health Secretary vowed to reverse a decline in the proportion of the £165 billion NHS England budget that is spent on GP surgeries.

More than five million patients a month in England are waiting longer than a fortnight for a GP appointment.

An hour after being appointed on Friday, Mr Streeting said the NHS was broken and that this was now the Department of Health’s official policy.

“Patients are finding it harder than ever to see a GP,” Mr Streeting said.

“Patients can’t get through the front door of the NHS, so they aren’t getting the timely care they need.

“That’s no surprise, when GPs and primary care has been receiving a smaller proportion of NHS resources. I’m committed to reversing that.”

On Monday, the Health Secretary visited Abbey Medical Centre, a GP surgery in St John’s Wood, London, in his first official visit and said the change would ease the pressure on hospitals.

“My first visit as Health Secretary was to a GP practice because when we said we want to shift the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and into the community, we meant it,” Mr Streeting said.

“I’m determined to make the NHS more of a neighbourhood health service, with more care available closer to people’s homes. Because if patients can’t get a GP appointment, then they end up in A&E, which is worse for them, and more expensive for the taxpayer.”

He added: “We are committed to bringing back the family doctor, so patients can see the same doctor each appointment, fixing the front door to the NHS.”

Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, visited the GP practice with Mr Streeting and said GPs were “under huge pressure”.

“GP teams are the bedrock of the NHS but right across the country, they are under huge pressure and working incredibly hard to deliver more appointments,” she said.

“We know there is much more work to do to support them and to transform primary care services.”

On Tuesday, the Health Secretary will turn his focus to ending strike action by junior doctors, which has disrupted the NHS since 2022.

More than 60,000 appointments were postponed because of the most recent strike, from June 27 until July 1.

The British Medical Association’s junior doctors’ committee has demanded a 35 per cent pay rise.

Mr Streeting has previously described their demands as unaffordable.