Ruth Cadbury raises issue of doctor shortage in parliament

December 9, 2022

New figures have shown that the number of people waiting more than a month to see an MP has risen to nearly 2,000 in the Brentford & Isleworth constituency.

For the country as a whole, there are over 2 million people in this situation and the matter was raised this Tuesday (6 December) in parliament by the local MP.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Ruth Cadbury has accused the Government of doing ‘too little, too late’ to tackle the shortage of GPs across England.

In her question, Ms Cadbury mentioned a local case of a GP who was facing the prospect of having to retire early, or work fewer hours due to the Government’s rules around NHS pensions. Despite lobbying from GPs and other groups the Government have only recently announced a consultation on reviewing these rules.

Speaking afterwards the MP said, ‘‘People locally are finding it harder and harder to see a GP when they need to. I was shocked to see the new figures showing nearly 2,000 people waited more than a month, and I know from listening to people locally that these delays are having a huge impact.

“This delay is not the fault of GPs or practice staff- but rather is the result of the Government’s incompetence.

“12 years of failure by successive Governments has meant that we are not training enough new GPs. Additionally, the Government are failing to help support GPs so that they can stay working. In Parliament I mentioned the local example where a senior GP who works locally was facing the prospect of having to retire, emigrate or work fewer days because of the Governments pensions rules. The Government have been warned by doctors for years about these pension rules and the difficulties that they cause, but they’ve refused to act.

“I will continue to campaign for the Government to recruit more GPs - along with the nurses, mental health staff and other frontline NHS staff we desperately need.’’

In reply to her question Health Minister Steve Barclay said, “It is worth reminding the House that there are 3% more doctors this year than last year. As I have said, we have 2,300 more full-time GPs, and we are recruiting more. However, the hon. Lady is absolutely right about doctors’ pensions; that is a material issue, which is why we launched the consultation, and we are working with Treasury colleagues to address these concerns as quickly as possible.”