Press Release: Kent LMC response to today’s Health and Social Care Secretary’s statement
Date published: 22/09/2022
Kent LMC response to today’s Health and Social Care Secretary’s statement
General Practice and their teams are working under intense workload and workforce pressures. The statement today from the Health Secretary, Therese Coffey, fails to address the stress General Practice and the wider NHS Health and Social Care are currently under and it is disappointing that it lacks any substantive plan or recognition of the level of care General Practice is delivering to patients. In July this year the equivalent of 40% of the population of Kent and Medway accessed General Practice, 810 000 appointments. Despite this we know we are struggling to meet demand currently and anticipate the demand over this winter will increase. General practice staff are caring for more patients who are waiting to access other parts of the healthcare system, experiencing delays, and are suffering as a result. Government headlines such as these are an attempt to deflect attention from the reality that there is a failure to deliver promises to address the shortage of workforce and resources to primary care and the wider NHS. We continue to see a decline in our workforce at a time when we need numbers to be increasing. Every NHS worker goes to work to support and treat their patients.
Kent Local Medical Committee