• 51 million GP appointments lasted less than 5 minutes in past year
• Five times Sunak betrayed British businesses
• Sewage vote: Judgement day for Conservative MPs
• Raab Urgent Question: Lib Dems challenge PM to come clean over advice on bullying complaints

51 million GP appointments lasted less than 5 minutes in past year

51 million GP appointments in the last year lasted less than five minutes, new research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The figures also reveal a postcode lottery with more than 21% of GP appointments in some areas lasting five minutes or less.

The party warned that the government’s failure to recruit more GPs has meant patients are “waiting for weeks to get an appointment only to be rushed through in a matter of minutes.”

The Commons Library analysis is based on NHS figures for the year between March 2022, when the data was first published, and February 2023. It provides a figure for the first time on the number of five-minute GP appointments over an entire year, broken down by local area.

The figures show that overall, almost one in six (17.2%) GP appointments in England in the past year lasted less than five minutes. However, in some areas the number of patients being rushed through rapid appointments was far higher.

West Suffolk, home to former Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s constituency, had the highest proportion of short GP appointments than anywhere in the country with 21.8% lasting five minutes or less. The other areas with the highest percentage of short appointments were West Leicestershire (20.9%), Ipswich and East Suffolk (20.9%), and North East Lincolnshire (20.4%). This contrasted with Fylde and Wyre in Lancashire, where just one in ten (10.4%) of GP appointments were shorter than 5 minutes.

Research has previously found that Britain has some of the shortest average GP appointments among similarly wealthy countries around the world. The Royal College of General Practice has called for standard GP appointments to be at least 15 minutes by 2030, with longer appointments for those with complex needs.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to recruit 8,000 more GPs and have set out plans to give patients a legal right to see a GP within 7 days.

Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

Many patients need time to properly talk through their symptoms with a GP, especially when they have complex health problems.

But the government’s failure to recruit the extra GPs they promised has meant doctors are being forced to cram in more and more short appointments. People are being left waiting weeks to get an appointment only to be rushed through in a matter of minutes.

Entire communities are paying the price for years of neglect under the Conservatives, who have driven local health services into the ground.

Liberal Democrats have set out a plan to boost GP numbers and guarantee people a right to an appointment within one week, so people can finally get the care and attention they deserve.

Five times Sunak betrayed British businesses

The Liberal Democrats have highlighted five times Rishi Sunak has betrayed British businesses, hitting them with broken promises and billions in tax rises and higher costs.

It comes as the Prime Minister attempts to “woo” industry chiefs at a conference today.

The five times Sunak has betrayed British businesses:

1. Hiking taxes – Rishi Sunak raised national insurance on small businesses. Analysis found this cost British employers nearly £4bn over seven months.
2. Slashed businesses energy support – Liberal Democrat analysis estimates that Sunak’s cut to business energy support whilst cost SME’s roughly £7.6bn in higher energy costs.
3. Australia Trade Deal hit to farmers and food manufacturers – Botched trade deals supported by Rishi Sunak risk leaving the British food industry millions of pounds worse off.
4. The Government’s broken promise to cut business rates – In its 2019 manifesto, the Conservative party promised to “cut the burden of tax on business by reducing business rates.”
5. Mini-budget – Rishi Sunak remained a loyal Conservative MP whilst his party crashed the economy and sent mortgage rates spiralling.

Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, said:

Rishi Sunak is no friend of British business. As Chancellor his budgets whacked small businesses with unfair fair tax hikes and signed off botched trade deals which left farmers worse off.

This Conservative Government hasn’t a shred of economic integrity left. In recent months they have crashed the economy, sent interest rates spiralling and failed miserably to control price rises.

From the cost of living crisis to flatlining growth, it is failure after failure from this Government.

Why should British business trust a word Rishi Sunak says after that appalling record?

Sewage vote: Judgement day for Conservative MPs

Ahead of MPs voting tomorrow on taking tougher action against water companies found to be discharging sewage into rivers and coastlines, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson Tim Farron said:

This vote will be judgement day for Conservative MPs on the sewage crisis plaguing our coastlines and rivers.

Conservative MPs have spent the past year blocking tough new laws on water companies. They are trying to take the British public for fools with tough talk and no action.

Communities across the country have had enough of Conservative MPs who would rather protect water firms over their local environment.

Raab Urgent Question: Lib Dems challenge PM to come clean over advice on bullying complaints

The Liberal Democrats have challenged Rishi Sunak to publish any official advice he received over the bullying allegations against Dominic Raab before appointing him as Deputy Prime Minister.

In an urgent question in Parliament this afternoon, the party’s chief whip Wendy Chamberlain also called on government ministers to condemn Raab’s attacks against the civil service.

Under the Ministerial Code, ministers are required to “be professional in their working relationships with the Civil Service and treat all those with whom they come into contact with consideration and respect.”

In response to the question, government minister Alex Burghart said “There were no formal allegations made against the right honourable member for Esher and Walton before the Prime Minister appointed him”. Number 10 has previously refused to confirm whether or not the PM was aware of informal concerns about Raab’s conduct.

Commenting after the debate, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain said:

It’s time for Rishi Sunak to come clean over what he knew and when about the bullying complaints against Raab before appointing him as his deputy. Any official advice provided to the Prime Minister on the informal complaints about Raab’s conduct should be published immediately. If Sunak has nothing to hide he has nothing to fear.

Conservative ministers must also finally come out and condemn Raab’s outrageous, victim-blaming attacks against the civil service. So far we’ve had a deafening silence from Sunak on this issue, who didn’t even criticise Raab in the letter he sent responding to his resignation.

The UK is renowned around the world for the impartiality and professionalism of our civil service. Ministers should respect that instead of blaming civil servants for the damage done to the country by years of Conservative chaos.