Conservatives pledge to ‘build 100 new GP surgeries’ if they win general election

The Conservative Party has announced a pledge to build 100 new GP surgeries and ‘modernise’ a further 150, should they win the upcoming general election.

The Tories said they would also expand Pharmacy First to ‘free up a total 20 million GP appointments’ and build 50 new Community Diagnostic Centres.

The plans would be backed by £1bn a year by 2029/30, funded by slashing the number of NHS managers and ‘halving spend on consultants in the public sector’.

But GP leaders vigorously attacked the plans, saying the party has underfunded general practice for over a decade, leading to the current situation of practice decline and closures.

As Pulse has reported, nearly 60 GP practices across the UK closed their doors in 2022 alone, with a sharp rise and fall in the number of practice closures over the last decade, increasing from 11 in 2013 to a peak of 163 in 2018.

Pulse’s major investigation found that at least 474 surgeries across the UK have folded with no replacement, and looked at why this happened, identifying the triggers of full practice closures, with staffing being the most common by a distance (some 42% of all closures).

It also found that deprived practices face greater pressures that force them to close more than practices in affluent areas.

On social media platform X, health secretary Victoria Atkins said the Tory plans mark ‘a significant shift to bringing care closer to home’.

She said: ‘This is a fully funded plan backed by cutting the number of managers in the NHS and halving spend on consultants in the public sector.

‘Pharmacists, GPs and Community Diagnostic Centres are the backbone of our NHS. This plan will enable them to focus on what they do best: serving their local community.

‘We hit our 2019 manifesto target to create 50 million additional GP appointments and have built 160 CDCs already. This plan will go even further and will help make our NHS faster, simpler and fairer.’

But RCGP chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said a lack of investment in GP premises and staff had led to the current situation.

‘Too many GPs’ are working in ‘mouldy rooms’ with leaking roofs, without enough space to deliver the care their community needs, she said, adding that more investment is needed to recruit and retain GPs.

She said: ‘The average number of patients per fully qualified GP is now 2,294, meaning each GP is, on average, responsible for 154 more patients than there were five years ago.

‘We are delivering millions more appointments than we were five years ago, with 880 fewer fully qualified, full time equivalent GPs, but we can’t keep doing more with less.

‘The only solution to the current crisis in general practice is more GPs – no other healthcare professional can do the complex clinical and leadership work that GPs do.

‘We need all the political parties to commit to significant investment and further efforts to increase the GP workforce – to ensure that there are enough GPs to deliver safe timely and appropriate care. Parties need to listen to GPs and patients, and prioritise the future of general practice.’

Also on X, DAUK spokesperson Dr Steve Taylor, a GP in Manchester, said the Conservatives ‘have failed general practice for the past 14 years’.

He said: ‘It’s harder to see a GP in every constituency in England, [the Conservatives] have cut GP funding by 20% £/patient in the last eight years alone. They don’t care about patients or GP access.’

And he told Pulse: ‘Given the decline in provision for GP Practices over the past 14 years and particularly the past eight years, it’s surprising that the Conservatives are suggesting some support for new practices. Over 300 practices have closed, GPs are unemployed, leaving and some practices are handing back contracts.’ 

In its response to the plans, Labour quoted Pulse’s investigation into practice closures, and said that the ‘Conservatives are promising to build 250 GP surgeries, however 450 have closed since 2013’.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘The Conservatives have broken their manifesto promise to recruit more GPs, instead cutting 1,700 since 2016 and closing down more than 450 GP practices.

‘Patients are finding it harder than ever before to see a GP, so why would they trust this latest empty promise? The doctor can’t see you now, and it will only get worse if the Tories are given another five years.

‘Labour will train thousands more GPs and cut the red tape that ties up GPs time, so we can bring back the family doctor.’

Last week, Labour Party pledged to eradicate elective waits over 18 weeks within five years, if they are elected on 4 July.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have said they would increase the number of GPs by 8,000.