GP appointment shortage hitting most deprived areas hardest

People living in deprived areas are finding it far harder to get GP appointments than people in wealthier ones, according to a new analysis.

A House of Commons Library study showed that in the five NHS areas with the highest deprivation scores, as many as one in five patients could not get a suitable appointment - prompting the Labour Party to lament government underinvestment.

The five most deprived clinical commissioning group areas in England are Blackpool, Manchester, Knowsley, Liverpool and Hull. In these places, the number of patients who either could not get an appointment or could not take one up at the time they were offered was between 10 per cent and 17 per cent.

Conversely, the least deprived parts of the country fared much better, with Surrey Heartland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) having an equivalent figure of just 8.3 per cent, and Oxfordshire at eight per cent.

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said there could be ‘no levelling up’ while the government was ‘imposing a tight financial straight jacket’ across the health service.

He said: “It’s unacceptable that patients are unable to see their GP particularly in poorer areas thanks to years of Tory underfunding and cuts. There can be no ‘levelling up’ if people with the greatest health needs struggle to access care or even are forced to go without putting themselves at risk of long term sickness.

“Instead of investing sufficiently in general practise, Sajid Javid is embarking on a top down reorganisation of the NHS that imposes a tight financial straight jacket on local areas while sidelining family doctors. Ministers should put patient first, expand access to health care to bring waiting lists down rather than a distracting NHS restructuring.”