Labour pledges to ‘bring back the family doctor’ with face-to-face appointments for all

Labour has pledged to ‘bring back the family doctor’ in NHS reform plans.

The shadow health secretary has warned that five million patients a month wait more than a fortnight to see their GP, as he says his party plan to ‘bring  back the family doctor’.

Setting out the party’s NHS reform plans, Wes Streeting will promise face-to-face appointments for all and a choice of doctor to continue continuity of care.

On Friday, shadow health secretary Mr Streeting will set out proposals for fundamental reforms of the NHS, including neighbourhood health services, bringing GPs and other health workers together to provide patients with more help close to home.

In September, the government vowed to end waits of more than two weeks for patients to see a GP amid concerns poor access is adding pressure onto hospitals and A&E departments.

But, since then 24 million appointments have taken place at least two weeks after they were requested — almost five million a month, according to NHS data.

Mr Streeting will set out his party’s proposals to reform General Practice, which will include doubling the number of doctors in training. The increase, to 15,000 places, would be funded by abolishing the non-dom tax status.

Ahead of a speech in London on Thursday night, Mr Streeting said: “We will bring back the family doctor and ensure patients can see the GP of their choice.”

The shadow health secretary has already said the party would ‘tear up’ the GP contract, which allows family doctors to work as independent businesses, and instead have more direct employees.

Earlier this week, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, said the NHS was ‘broken’, with up to one in five patients in A&E going there because they were not able to see a GP.