Dr Simon Opher has accused Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie of “political mischief-making” after she raised concerns about pressures on GPs and Labour party plans to abolish GP partnerships.
Wes Streeting, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care , has said a Labour government would “tear up the contract” with GPs, and could make family doctors salaried NHS employees.
Speaking in a primary care access debate in parliament Ms Baillie said: “GPs are working extraordinarily hard to increase access in the face of ever-increasing public demand. I am alarmed by the Labour party’s talk about scrapping the GP partnership model, as I find in the Stroud district that GP practices are some of the most efficient parts of our NHS services.
“They need support, the removal of bureaucracy and the opening up of funding pots, rather than dismantling.
“Will my right honourable friend explain how access to primary care would not be helped by removing the partnership model, and what the Government is doing to help Independent Care Boards create more flexible partnership funding pots?”
In reply health minister Dame Andrea Leadsom said: “My honourable friend makes a fantastic point, and I say again that GPs absolutely underpin our primary care. We all absolutely rely on them, and our measures to create 36,000 additional roles in GP practices will provide them with the additional capacity they need so that they can serve their patients better.
“That is good for patients, good for primary care and incredibly good value for the taxpayer. It is ludicrous that Labour is proposing to undermine the GP partnership model; that would be a disaster for primary care.”
Ms Baillie added: “I have been speaking up about GPs for some time. The Gloucestershire MPs made some suggestions to the Secretary of State for Health about what we want to see to help GPs in the county and I will keep the pressure on in parliament too.”
In response, Dr Simon Opher, Stroud’s Labour Party parlimentary candidate said: “Under the last Labour Government in 2010 you could get an appointment to get see a GP within 48 hours. Today it’s more like 6 weeks. In 2010 the NHS was the envy of the world.
“Today, the service is on its knees. Every day I see first-hand the huge damage the Conservatives are doing to the NHS and the urgent need to fix it.
“Siobhan’s comments are pure mischief making. If she was really worried, a call to me, or Wes Streeting’s office, would have reassured her of our commitment to the current partnership model.
“The Conservatives are misrepresenting health workers and Labour because they have run out of ideas and have nothing to offer. They have wasted billions of pounds and run the service into the ground. Our fear is that left to them, primary care, the bedrock of the NHS, is going to go the way of dentistry.
“So I will take no lectures from our Conservative MP on this. If she really wanted to help she would join our calls for a General Election and let those of us who understand the situation get on with sorting it out.”
