An increase in core funding is needed if the new government is to meet its pledge to ‘end the 8am scramble’ for a general practice appointment.
That was the message today from DAUK’s GP lead Dr Lizzie Toberty in a front-page interview with a national newspaper.
Dr Toberty was speaking to i News about a pledge by health secretary Wes Streeting during the general election that Labour would allow patients to easily book appointments to see the doctor they want, in the manner they choose”.
She said that in order to match funding levels from a decade ago, general practice needed at least another £35 per year, per patient.
“That’s less than £3 a month, less than a price of a coffee. And we have evidence from The King’s Fund that people are willing to pay a little bit more tax to have better healthcare,” she said.
Read the i News article in full.
Dr Toberty’s comments have also been reported in the Independent, the Guardian, and in regional newspapers including the Express and Star. And the article was also discussed in the newspaper review on Sky News.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Dr Toberty added: “Let’s be clear … the problems of the ‘8am scramble’ are not insurmountable. Just fund core general practice.”
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