I am hearing more and more frequently from concerned residents struggling to see a GP because this Tory Government is failing to staff our health service.

It’s extremely worrying, and it can be calamitous, if patients cannot get to see their GP in the first place to get a diagnosis or a referral to a specialist.

Sadly too many people are getting the message from our overstretched health service that the doctor can’t see you now.  NHS England’s own statistics confirm 15% of people in Sussex could not get an appointment to see or speak to a GP or nurse the last time they tried.

Meanwhile, in the past year, 1,679,678 GP appointments across the South East were held a month late.  In June, 45,465 appointments were held a month late in Sussex alone.

When the Conservatives entered government in 2010, they scrapped the guarantee of a GP appointment within 48 hours.  Public satisfaction with GP services has fallen by over half – from 77 percent in Labour’s last year in government, to just 38 percent now, the lowest level since the survey began in 1983.

Data from the NHS also finds that 34% appointments in Sussex aren’t held face-to-face.

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 2019.  As a result, many ‘GP appointments’ held today are not with a GP.

Ultimately, it’s also self-defeating, many people who can’t get a GP appointment will present themselves to an urgent treatment centre or accident and emergency, much more expensive for the NHS as well as potentially forcing people to wait hours just to be seen.

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

Labour will recruit and retain the staff the NHS needs to treat patients on time.  People in Crawley and across Sussex deserve a Labour government that will give the NHS what it needs to see people on time, not more of the same from the Tories.

Cllr Michael Jones

Leader, Crawley Borough Council