Around £102m in new funding will be committed to expanding and modernising GP surgeries, the government says.
More than 1,000 surgeries will benefit from the cash boost to upgrade and create additional space for doctors to see more patients. It is the biggest public investment in facilities for five years, according to the Department for Health and Social Care.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “These are simple fixes for our GP surgeries, but for too long they were left to ruin, allowing waiting lists to build and stopping doctors treating more patients.”
The projects are part of the government’s broader plans to overhaul the health service – and are set to begin this summer.
“It is only because of the necessary decisions we took in the Budget that we are able to invest in GP surgeries, start tackling the 08:00 scramble and deliver better services for patients,” Streeting added.
Long waiting times for GP appointments mean many people now try to book a same-day appointment. The “08:00 scramble” refers to the time many GP surgeries open their phone lines for on-the-day bookings.
Just under 45% of all GP appointments in March this year took place on the same day they were booked, according to NHS England.
The British Social Attitudes survey, published last month, found that just 31% of people in the UK were satisfied with NHS GP services – compared to 68% in 2019.
Research by the Institute for Government, an independent think-tank, found that patient satisfaction with GPs had fallen significantly since the pandemic, driven by fewer in-person appointments.
Around 80% of patients saw a GP in person in 2019. By last year, that had fallen to 66%.
Ruth Rankine, the primary care director at the NHS Confederation, said doctors would welcome the £102m boost to “deliver high quality care, closer to home, and fit for the 21st century”.
“If we are serious about shifting care from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention, and from analogue to digital, then sustained investment in primary and community estates, equipment and technology is vital,” she added.
It is unclear which of the 6,252 GP surgeries in NHS England will benefit from the new funding.
Last month the government announced it would expand a scheme to help GPs provide care to patients without admitting them to hospital – backed by £80m in funding.
