Health Secretary Thérèse Coffey on GPs and cost of living

News - 5 October 2022

In her speech to the Conservative Party Conference today, the health secretary repeated much of what she had announced on 22 September in ‘Our Plan for Patients’, with slightly less rigid language over patient access to GPs.

Therese Coffey told the conference: “I think it’s perfectly reasonable for people when they need to see a GP, they should expect to do so within a fortnight. Of course, I would like to be more ambitious and while I will not be prescriptive on how GPs interact with their patients, I am clear: patients must be able to see their doctors promptly.”

She also told the conference that officials had flagged up cost of living issues as a priority when she first took up post.

“When I first went into the Department [of Health and Social Care], I asked what was the biggest risk was this winter and what we could do to help. I was told, ‘help with energy bills’, so older people would not worry about the cost of turning on the heating and for health and care providers too.”

If you want to listen to the full speech, view on the Party conference YouTube channel here

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