The health secretary has said that fixing problems with GP premises ‘will take time’, as he faced questions from MPs after the roof of a surgery in Oxfordshire collapsed.
Following heavy rain in September, Woodstock Surgery’s roof gave in, forcing the practice to close its list.
The practice has previously warned of a potential ‘crisis’ with 600 new homes planned for the surrounding area, and local Lib Dem MP Calum Miller told Pulse’s sister title Nursing in Practice that the practice ‘cannot take more housing without more GP capacity’.
During a debate in Parliament, Mr Miller told MPs that the surgery is ‘not fit for purpose’ and said that one nurse working at the practice has been forced to see patients ‘in a broom cupboard’ due to the lack of space.
He asked health secretary Wes Streeting how Labour’s plans will address the need for better GP premises.
Mr Miller said: ‘The nurse literally sees patients in a broom cupboard. The GPs want to increase their capacity to see more patients, but have been unable to access sufficient capital from the integrated care board.’
Mr Streeting responded that investing in new GP premises will take time, and that this practice is the ‘epitome of the broken general practice system’ that Labour inherited from the previous Government.
He said: ‘I am incredibly sorry about the awful conditions in which staff in that practice are having to see patients and in which the patients it serves are having to be seen—that is the epitome of the broken general practice system that we inherited.
‘Thanks to the decisions taken by the chancellor in the Budget, we are able to invest in the capital estate need in the NHS.
‘That will take time, and we would be delighted to hear more about that individual case to see how the ICB and the NHS can assist.’
According to Mr Miller, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West (BOB) ICB have turned down proposals for a surgery replacement, but stressed Woodstock urgently needed a ‘new modern facility’ to meet the town’s needs.
Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, who represents Oxford West and Abingdon, also questioned Mr Streeting on plans for new GP premises in her area, where Summertown Health Centre has also been struggling with outdated buildings.
She said: ‘They operate in an old Victorian building and are desperate to move to new premises. That health centre was at the top of the priority list, but the ICB says that there is no money, and the doctors say that there is no pot that they can bid into in order to get this seen to.’
Mr Streeting responded: ‘We are looking creatively at this issue. There are enormous capital pressures right across the NHS estate.
‘We are regularly lobbied on new hospitals, for example, but we are also lobbied on general practice, the mental health estate and the rest.
‘We will do as much as we can as fast as we can, thinking creatively about how we can get more capital investment in.’
BOB ICB told Pulse that ICBs ‘do not have access’ to ‘sufficient’ capital to invest in new primary care estate.
A spokesperson said: ‘Small amounts are available annually (less than £1m for BOB) which allow small reconfigurations to be done, including the conversion of non-clinical rooms to clinical rooms.
‘The ICB is, however, encouraged by the Government’s announcement of £102m capital funding ‘earmarked’ for 200 GP estates reconfigurations across England, enabling practices to provide more patient appointments by improving the use of existing space.
‘This money will be available from April 2025, but we are still awaiting details. We hope the funding will help to address some of the longstanding premises issues currently faced by primary care across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West.’
It comes after the chancellor announced £100m of capital funding ‘earmarked’ for 200 GP estates upgrades, during the Budget in October.
On capital spending, the Government will establish a ‘dedicated fund’ for general practice in order to deliver ‘around 200 upgrades to GP surgeries across England’, enabling practices to provide more patient appointments by improving the use of existing space.
This money will be available from April 2025 and is part of the Government’s commitment to provide ‘record levels of capital investment for health’ with an increase of £3.1bn between 2023/24 and 2025/26, bringing the total to £13.6bn.
A GP surgery staff survey by the RCGP in 2023 saw 40% describe their premises as ‘unfit for purpose’, describing problems including insufficient number of consulting rooms, poor disabled access, leakages and mould.
Yet almost three-quarters of the staff who requested funding to upgrade their premises over the previous year were unsuccessful in obtaining it.
