MP Rayner - 'this Government is failing to staff our health service'

MP for Ashton and Failsworth Angela Rayner

The doctor can’t see you now - new figures from NHS England show that 16% of patients in Greater Manchester could not get an appointment to see or speak to a GP or nurse the last time they tried.

The data also reveals that in the past year, 1,108,264 GP appointments in the North West were held a month late.

In June alone, 52,740 appointments were held a month late in Greater Manchester.

Figures also show a third of appointments were conducted via telephone or online rather than face to face.

Angela Rayner, Labour's Deputy Leader and MP for Ashton-under-Lyne and Failsworth, said: “I hear from concerned constituents who are struggling to see a GP because this Government is failing to staff our health service.

“We need more GPs, but the Conservatives have once again over-promised and under-delivered.

“The Government has admitted it is failing to meet its manifesto pledge to recruit more GPs.

"Under the Conservatives, the number of GPs is falling and hundreds of GP practices have closed since the 2019 general election.

"As a result, many ‘GP appointments’ held today are not with a GP.

“People in Ashton, Droylsden and Failsworth deserve a Labour government that will give the NHS what it needs to see people on time, not more of the same from the Conservatives.”

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