Milton Keynes MPs respond to data claiming over 12,000 patients are waiting a MONTH for a GP appointment

Milton Keynes’ MPs have responded to data showing more than 12,000 people are having to wait a month to see a GP across the city.

The latest NHS stats for wait times (January 2023) also highlighted a further 19,546 people waiting more than two weeks to see a GP.

Across the country, the number of qualified GPs has fallen to a record low.

And according to the MK Labour Group there are 2,000 fewer GPs than in 2015, despite the Government promising to recruit an additional 6,000 GPs by 2024.

Councillor Emily Darlington, Cabinet Member for Healthy Communities, said: “There just aren’t enough GPs and people are getting sicker as they wait for appointments. This puts pressure on a desperately short-staffed NHS after a decade of underfunding and local people are suffering the consequences. Residents should be able to see the doctor they want, in the manner they choose, when they need to. Under the Conservative Government that’s just not happening.”

CMK ward Councillor Moriah Priestley, who is also chair of the Health and Adult Social Care Committee on Milton Keynes City Council, added: “The NHS is currently on its knees after a decade of neglect by this Government. It means that far too many patients in Milton Keynes cannot see a GP when they need to, and we are faced with the sad reality that conditions will be going undiagnosed until it’s too late.”

“The NHS has proposed that the Government adopt Labour’s plan to double medical school places, but the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is currently refusing to fund it.”

She said Labour pledges to create 10,000 new nursing and midwifery placements each year, double the number of district nurses qualifying each year, provide 5,000 new health visitors, ensure that patients can get a face-to-face appointment with a GP, and bring back the family doctor so patients can see the same GP each appointment if they choose to.

Labour say they would pay for the plans by abolishing non-dom tax status, which allows the mega-rich to avoid paying tax in the UK.

A statement by MK MPs Iain Stewart and Ben Everitt, stated: "These figures are inaccurate as they do not reflect the fact some patients pre-book their appointments. They also show appointments, not patients, so are a misrepresentation as some people will have multiple appointments.

"It is disappointing that once again Milton Keynes Labour are playing political games with an important issue when they have allowed reckless expansion in the city without the appropriate infrastructure, such as building new GP practices.

"Since 2019, our GP workforce in Milton Keynes North has increased by 23% and in Milton Keynes South by 43% and the Government has made it a key priority that every patient who needs an appointment should be able to see their GP within two weeks.

"Every patient who has urgent needs should be able to see their GP on the same day. The Government is investing at least £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million GP appointments by 2024."