Patients Association - 'Urgent investment needed for GP premises'

11 Aug 2019 04:04 PM

The Patients Association last week joined senior GP leaders in writing to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging him to prioritise investment for primary care premises in the next spending review.

The letter, signed by Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association along with Dr Richard Vautrey, chair of the British Medical Association’s GP Committee, Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Dr Peter Swinyard, national chairman of the Family Doctor Association, and Dr Minesh Patel, chair of the National Association of Primary Care, warned that the poor state of GP premises was putting patient safety at risk.

The letter stated that GP premises have been underfunded over a number of years and that the situation is compounded by an ‘overall lack of infrastructure investment, policies of converting health capital budgets into revenue, and delays by NHS England in providing updated Premises Cost Directions’.

The Patients Association’s report into GP premises in December 2018 found that patients highlighted several issues including poor confidentiality at reception desks, issues with access for disabled people and dated waiting rooms.

You can read the full letter to the Prime Minister here.