Labour Attacks Tory Record On GP Opening Hours

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 07 April 2015 | 20.48

By Niall Paterson, Sky News Correspondent

Labour has claimed that almost 600 fewer GP surgeries are currently open during evenings and weekends compared to the last parliament.

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham says coalition policies on health are forcing people to queue lengthy periods to access a GP, with many visiting accident and emergency instead.

The Conservatives dispute the claim, which comes one month before voters go to the polls, and insist out-of-hours access to doctors is being extended.

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The row comes as it was revealed accident and emergency waiting times at hospitals in England are the longest they have been since records began in 2004.

New figures show just 91.8% of patients were seen within four hours in the three-month period to March, against a target of 95%.

The statistics were seized on by Labour leader Ed Miliband, on the campaign trail lin Bristol, who said: "One of the reasons for that is it's got a lot harder to see a GP."

On GP opening, Mr Burnham said Labour introduced an extended hours scheme which in 2009 funded 77% of surgeries to open their doors on evenings and weekends.

He said the coalition has cut funding from £3.01 per patient to £1.90 per patient, meaning that by 2013/14 only 72% of surgeries were offering extended hours. 

Labour says its figures were sourced from a parliamentary question and are up to date.

Mr Burnham said: "Today, across the country, people will face the frustration of joining a queue to see their GP - in some places the lines will go out of the surgery door.

"After five years of David Cameron, patients at hundreds of surgeries can no longer get a GP appointment when they need one."

But Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Labour's figures are "wrong", and pointed to the Prime Minister's Challenge Fund as evidence the Conservatives have boosted access to GPs.

Mr Hunt said the scheme covered 1,100 practices and helped 7.5 million patients see GPs out of normal hours.

He said: "We are extending this scheme to cover over 1,400 additional practices, helping 10 million extra people by this time next year.

"The next Conservative government will deliver a truly seven-day NHS, putting right a problem which began with Labour's disastrous 2004 GP contract.

"You can only have a strong NHS if you have a strong economy.

"Ed Miliband as prime minister - propped up by Alex Salmond and the SNP - would wreck the economy, risking the funding our NHS needs. Patients would pay the price."

Speaking on Sky News, Home Secretary Theresa May also disputed the opposition figures and argued it was Labour which changed the GPs' contract in 2004 that meant doctors were no longer required to provide out-of-hours services.

She said: "I've not seen people queuing out of the door of a GP's surgery.

"It's a bit rich to make these sort of claims now when actually the change in the GPs' contract was made by a Labour government."

The dispute comes a month before voters head to the ballot box and as the Prime Minister warns about the potential "disaster of an Ed Miliband government".

Mr Cameron is on a four-country tour of the United Kingdom, with events being held in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

He is underlining his message that the Conservatives have led an economic revival in Britain.

He is also appealing for potential UKIP voters to "come home" to the Conservatives in order to avoid a Labour election win.

Speaking ahead of today's campaign visits, Mr Cameron said: "We have one month to save our economy from the disaster of an Ed Miliband government."

"We have one month to save Britain from his mountain of debt; one month to save Britain from his punitive taxes."

He added that the Labour leader was pursuing policies which are "anti-business and anti-aspiration".

During campaigning over the Easter weekend, Labour accused the Conservatives of plotting a secret tax cut for millionaires after the General Election.

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls predicted a Tory-led government would hike VAT - something Mr Cameron has ruled out - and slash the top rate of income tax for earnings over £150,000.

Meanwhile the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has set out proposals to raise the threshold at which people start paying income tax to £11,000 next year, with a promise of a further rise to £12,500 by 2020.

The income tax cut will be funded by increasing tax on shareholders' dividend payments, Mr Clegg said.

He claimed the Tory plans for tax cuts would be paid for by deep cuts to public services.

Mr Clegg said the Conservatives were "desperate" to claim credit for raising the personal tax threshold.

"The problem is making life a little easier for working people has never been David Cameron's and George Osborne's priority and it isn't now," he said.


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