This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27377978
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Labour pledges GP appointment 'within 48 hours' | Labour pledges GP appointment 'within 48 hours' |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Labour will try to ensure that all NHS patients in England get an appointment with a GP within 48 hours, party leader Ed Miliband has said. | |
| He told the BBC's Nick Robinson there would be a "same-day consultation" for those with the "most urgent" problems. | He told the BBC's Nick Robinson there would be a "same-day consultation" for those with the "most urgent" problems. |
| Mr Miliband said the £100m funding for the pledge would come from savings made elsewhere in the NHS. | Mr Miliband said the £100m funding for the pledge would come from savings made elsewhere in the NHS. |
| The Conservatives called Labour's plan "unfunded" and "pie-in-the-sky" and said it would lead to more taxation. | |
| 'A real difference' | |
| Speaking on a visit to a hospital in Crewe, Cheshire, Mr Miliband said: "What we're promising is that everybody should get a same-day consultation with their GP surgery and, if they've got an urgent situation, see a GP - and then a guaranteed appointment within 48 hours. | |
| "And we're going to pay for this by getting rid of much of the spending on bureaucracy and competition which is increasingly happening in the National Health Service. | |
| "That will save £100m, which we will put in to up to three million extra GP appointments. That will make a real difference to GPs." | |
| But a Conservative Party spokesman said: "This is an unfunded, pie-in-the-sky policy that Labour can't pay for and doctors can't deliver. | |
| "More unfunded spending would mean more borrowing and more taxes to pay for it. It's the same old Labour. | |
| "The last Labour government vandalised the relationship between GPs and their patients by introducing tick-box targets and scrapping family doctors, something we are now putting right. | |
| "Far from improving access, another top-down target will leave GPs less time with their patients and put more pressure on general practice. | |
| "The real solution is less micromanagement and more GPs, something we've already committed to." | |
| According to NHS England's GP Patient Survey, published in December, the proportion of patients in England who were having to wait a week or more for an appointment had risen to 15%, compared with 14% a year before. | |
| But the survey, involving nearly one million respondents, also showed 92.2% of people found making a GP appointment convenient. |