Lib Dems announce five year plan to give patients in Windsor right to see a GP within a week
Lib Dems announce five year plan to give patients in Windsor right to see a GP within a week
- A five year plan to give patients in Windsor a right to see their GP within a week or 24-hours if in urgent need will be in the Liberal Democrat General Election manifesto the party has today announced
- Last year 610,575 appointments in the Frimley ICB area, which covers Windsor, took longer than two weeks to happen, under the Liberal Democrats plans every single patient will have the right to see their GP in seven days
- Windsor's Liberal Democrats have said that this Conservative government had "abandoned local health services" and called for a "fair deal for this community's patients"
The Liberal Democrats have today (24th May) announced that their five year plan to give patients in Windsor a legal right to see a GP within a week or 24-hours if in urgent need, will be in their General Election manifesto.
Last year there were 610,575 appointments that took over two weeks in Windsor, equating to 13.6% of appointments. This included a staggering 131,095 which took longer than a month.
The number of disturbingly long waits in the Windsor area has been getting worse. In 2022, there were 508,135 over two weeks, or 12%% of all appointments. Last year this shot up drastically to 610,575 or 13.6% of all appointments. There was a 34% increase in the number of appointments which took over a month.
The Liberal Democrats have said that under their plans, patients will no longer be left waiting for an appointment and risk their conditions getting worse.
The party will deliver the plan by:
- Increasing the number of full-time equivalent GPs by 8,000, half by boosting recruitment and half from retaining more experienced GPs.
- Freeing up GPs' time by giving more prescribing rights and public health advisory services to qualified pharmacists, nurse practitioners and paramedics.
- Introducing a universal 24/7 GP booking system.
- Removing top-down bureaucracy to let practices hire the staff they need and invest in training.
- Windsor's Liberal Democrats said that this Conservative government had "abandoned local health services" and called for a "fair deal for this community's patients".
Liberal Democrat Candidate for Windsor, Julian Tisi said:
"This Conservative government has driven our area's local health services into the ground. Thousands of patients in Windsor are facing agonisingly long waits, often in terrible pain whilst waiting to see their GP.
"The Conservative party have proven themselves totally unfit to run our NHS. They have abandoned local health services and it is patients bearing the brunt of their neglect.
"It should not be too much to ask for patients to be able to see their GP when they need to. That is why the Liberal Democrats have committed to a fair deal for this community's patients and legal right to see a GP within a week."