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than 1 in 10 patients in Thurrock waited seven days or longer to see a GP the last time they tried, an official NHS survey has found.
12% of Thurrock patients faced a wait of a week or more when they phoned for an appointment in the last year.
Labour has pledged to invest £100 million in GP surgeries – saved by scrapping David Cameron’s NHS market rules that waste millions on lawyers fees and contract tendering – to guarantee appointments within 48 hours, or on the same day for those who need it.
40% of patients who have a preferred GP had to see another doctor when they last went to their surgery. The next Labour Government will also give patients the right to book ahead with the GP they prefer to see.
The delays have left 72% of local people saying they would not recommend their family’s practice to new patients.
Polly Billington Labour’s candidate to be MP for Thurrock said:
“Jackie Doyle-Price has made it harder for us here in Thurrock to get a GP appointment – proof that you can’t trust the Tories with our local NHS.
“Within days of the last election, they abolished Labour’s appointments guarantee and now thousands of people here are waiting over a week. Labour will scrap David Cameron’s NHS market and invest the savings in helping people get a GP appointment within 48 hours or on the same day for those who need it.”
I’m afraid Polly it was already like that when your party was in power and we all know why. Thurrock isn’t the only area of the country to experience this and again we all know why. You need to look a little closer to home for the reasons GP surgeries are over subscribed but as usual those of you on the left can’t bring yourselves to say it.
No Steven you are not correct. I have lived in Thurrock most of my life and usually only had to wait a couple of days for a GP’s appointment.
But within the last three years now ten days is the norm!
That’s why more and more people are switching to walk-in surgeries and the A&E.
Sorry jmw118 but its been a common problem for a number of years. I left a surgery in Grays in 2009 because you were lucky to get an appointment in a week, the usual was closer to 10 days. A number of other surgeries in the area wouldn’t take me on because they said they were full.
I don’t have any major ailments and I don’t visit a surgery on a regular basis so I wouldn’t have been a burden, most were simply full.
It’s pointless arguing the fact, it’s been reported in the national media what has happened. Tory policy may have some bearing on it. What’s Labour’s policy? Spend more money. Strange considering Mr Ed said that wasn’t going to happen under a future Labour government a few days ago.
So is this policy making on the hoof by Polly and just a load of window dressing to boost her poll ratings. The sooner people start telling the truth, maybe we’ll get some control over being able to plan services. Flooding the country continually with people that contribute nothing and demand free services is a recipe for total disaster.
Sorry Steven but I commented before of my own personal experiences.
However if you keep having a higher local population explosion you have to give them more resources to provide for them.
More patients need more GP’s, and that doesn’t happen.
This is this whole problem regarding all the decisions made in Thurrock over the past 15 years, build thousands of new homes, have tens of thousands of new residents many of whom have more children than average families but fail to build and expand the infrastructure to cope.
What is scary is that there is a large contingent of people in Thurrock who will vote for this hypocritical woman who has seemingly forgotten that until 2010 we had a Labour government for over a decade.
Unless Miliband hires loads of new GPs for Thurrock I cannot see how any of the Labour pledges are going to work without dramatically increasing spending.
Ed is right, building thousands of houses anywhere (manly due to Labour shipping in third world voters) without increasing services will always end in disaster.
Oh dear, it would seem that Polly has forgotten the basic facts of population, we have seen Thurrock grow for many years, be that from people moving from London or through immigration, for decades both the Labour and Conservative local authorities have continued to build houses like they are going out of fashion; however they have failed to build the infrastructure that is needed based on the population growth.
We have not seen many new schools, indeed The Gateway was a joke, shut two down and build one with less spaces, also we have seen Orsett closed down as an A&E so now people have to travel to an already over-crowded Basildon.
So is there little wonder that people are having to wait longer than they should to see their GP, how Milliband is meant to uphold his policy of a 48hr time limit is beyond me unless he is going to get 24hr doctors surgeries.
Maybe the Labour party will introduce the pay to see your GP option that was discussed by the BMA…..
Prolly go and do something useful put the kettle on, sit down and have a read of the facts. In the area I live people are waiting up to a month for a routine appointment with a GP. This was also the case when Labour were in power so I fail to see why you blame Jackie Doyle-Price for the problem. Also where were you at the public enquiry held this week in to the 501 homes development on the Fire Brigade Site which will put more of a strain on GP services if it goes ahead. You really do take the biscuit.