Lib Dems announce five year plan to give patients in Reading West & Mid-Berkshire the right to see a GP within a week
![A nurse speaking to a patient.](/fileadmin/_processed_/b/4/csm_Nurse_f6a744e468.jpg)
The Liberal Democrats have announced that their five-year plan to give patients in Reading a legal right to see a GP within a week, or in 24 hours if in urgent need, will be in their General Election manifesto.
Last year there were over 546,000 appointments in Berkshire West, where patients had to wait for more than two weeks, equating to around 1 in 5 of all appointments. This included a staggering 131,000 where patients had to wait longer than a month, almost 1 in every 20 appointments.
The number of disturbingly long waits in our area has been getting worse. In 2022, there were over 465,000 where patients waited over two weeks, or around 1 in 6 of all appointments. Last year this shot up drastically to over 546,000.
The Liberal Democrats have said that under their plans, patients will no longer be left waiting for an appointment and risk their conditions getting worse.
The party will deliver the plan by:
- Increasing the number of full-time equivalent GPs by 8,000, half by boosting recruitment and half from retaining more experienced GPs.
- Freeing up GPs’ time by giving more prescribing rights and public health advisory services to qualified pharmacists, nurse practitioners and paramedics.
- Introducing a universal 24/7 GP booking system.
- Removing top-down bureaucracy to let practices hire the staff they need and invest in training.
- Reading Liberal Democrats said that this Conservative government had “abandoned local health services” and called for a “fair deal for this community's patients”.
Helen Belcher OBE, Liberal Democrat candidate for Reading West and Mid Berkshire, said:
“This Conservative government has driven our area’s local health services into the ground. Thousands of patients in Reading and the surrounding area are facing agonisingly long waits, often in terrible pain whilst waiting to see their GP.
“The Conservative party have proven themselves totally unfit to run our NHS. They have abandoned local health services and it is patients bearing the brunt of their neglect.
“Many conversations with local people show that many are now afraid of falling ill, fearing that they won’t be able to access the healthcare they need.
“It should not be too much to ask for patients to be able to see their GP when they need to. That is why the Liberal Democrats have committed to a fair deal for this community’s patients and legal right to see a GP within a week.”