AN APPOINTMENT WITHIN 48 HOURS FOR ALL WHO WANT ONE – AND AN APPOINTMENT ON THE SAME DAY FOR ALL WHO NEED ONE.
Martin Jevon – 2015 Candidate for Yeovil welcomed Ed Milibands and Labour’s new GP guarantee as part of the next government’s plan to improve services for patients, ease the pressure on hospitals, and restore the right values to the heart of the NHS.
Labour will give all NHS patients contacting their surgery the right to:
• Consult a doctor or a nurse at their local GP surgery on the same day.
• Get an appointment at their surgery on the same day if they need to be seen quickly.
• Have a guaranteed appointment at their GP surgery within 48 hours.
• Book an appointment more than 48 hours ahead with the GP of their choice.
A Labour government will help all surgeries achieve these standards by investing an extra £100 million a year in family doctor practices which could pay for an additional 3 million GP appointments every year.
To fund this pledge Labour will
• Scrap the Government’s rules which have led to spending of at least £78 million on unnecessary administration and legal fees because NHS services are now under threat from EU competition law.
• Cut back the new bureaucracy created by this Government which has seen the costs of three sets of quangos – Monitor, the Trust Development Authority and Commissioning Support Units – spiral with their current spending just on consultants now totalling over £3 million a month.
Martin said ‘Under David Cameron and his Lib Dem cronies access to GPs has become more difficult, waiting times in hospitals have risen, and thousands of nurses jobs have been lost. This shows everyone that Labour is the only party that really cares for the NHS’