Martin Wrigley

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay (Steve Darling) on securing the debate. GP funding is in crisis. I have met representatives of individual practices in my Newton Abbot constituency, as well as the 28 practice managers from around the district. They all have a funding crisis. The recent GP settlement was described to me as unsafe, unsustainable and unfunded. GP funding is complex, but in essence it has two parts: the global sum and the quality outcomes framework. The global sum is meant to cover basic costs, including salaries, facilities, and so on, and the QOF extra services, but it does not cover any of it. Practice managers across south Devon have told me that the global sum is £121.79 per patient per year. That works out as less than paying to take a dog to the vet for an annual check-up, or about a third of the cost of servicing a modest car, such as a Renault Megane. That sum is also then modified by the Carr-Hill formula, which, perversely, can reduce the sum in areas of deprivation. The Royal College of General Practitioners wrote in an open letter to Government last year that this formula is no longer fit for purpose and has contributed to the widening health inequalities across the country. Practices in the areas of greatest deprivation have patients with more complex needs, yet they do not receive proportional funding to address those needs. For example, Buckland surgery in my constituency has 4,000 patients, but the Carr-Hill formula reduces the funding to the equivalent for 3,200 patients. Practice managers are juggling numbers to make things work. Some surgeries are short of a full-time GP; just imagine the impact that has on patients. No wonder it is difficult to get an appointment. That is unsafe. The Government have said that from October GPs must offer an open access service; that means that all available slots are booked, so emergency appointments cannot be seen. That is not sustainable.