Our GP Guarantee

This week, we set out a plan that would both tackle the GP crisis and help build the homes we need.

The two go hand-in-hand. Because what stops homes getting built?

It’s that people know that too often new developments don't come with the services and infrastructure they need. So these new developments just make it even harder to see a GP, to get their kids into a good school or to get around without being stuck in traffic.

So if we’re going to solve the housing crisis – we have to address those concerns. We have to reassure people that they will be able to access the healthcare they need – whether that’s the people already there or the new families who will move in.

We all know how hard it is to get a GP appointment these days. And it’s no surprise why - with over 1,300 practices closing since 2015, GP surgeries have had to serve hundreds more homes each.

It means more people facing agonising waits to see their GP, putting their health at risk, and forcing many people to A&E in desperation.

Alarmingly, LSE research has found that where GP provision has declined and more surgeries have closed, support for the extreme right has risen the most.

This issue could not be more important. Too often, new housing is built without the GP services people were promised. This week, I set out our plans to fix that.

Right now, GP surgeries promised for new housing developments are often delayed and underfunded. By the time people move in, there’s nowhere local to register, so residents join already overstretched practices elsewhere. It means new surgeries often never open at all.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

There are trained GPs ready to work, and funding from developers that isn’t being used effectively.

Under our plans, GP surgeries would be built or expanded in time for new residents, with developer levies paying for the new GP contracts while people are still moving in.

This would ensure GP surgeries are not only built, but funded and staffed from the get-go.

It would mean local people can access the health services they need in their community - helping to deliver our plans to ensure everyone can see their GP within 7 days or 24 hours if urgent. It’s a positive vision of what new communities can look like.

Please sign our petition and share our plans with your friends and family, so they know the Liberal Democrats are fighting for local health services:No doctors, No development - Liberal Democrats