Sarah Gibson

Since the Budget, many healthcare providers in my constituency have told me how worried they are about last week’s announcement. These healthcare providers, which include GP surgeries, dental practices, healthcare operators and pharmacies, are small businesses operating in the heart of our communities. They did so much with so little over the last 14 years under the Conservatives. Although I welcome the increased investment, this Labour Budget was supposed to be a breath of fresh air for primary care and for our health service. Instead, our GPs, pharmacists and dentists feel taken for granted. They feel let down, and they are scared. The rise in employer’s national insurance contributions and the lowering of the earnings threshold is life-threatening for GP practices such as Rowden surgery in Chippenham. They do not have the profit margins to absorb these costs, and they cannot pass them on to their clients. Because they are designated as public authorities, they are not even eligible for the employment allowance, meaning that they will bear the full weight of this rise in employment costs, which they simply cannot afford. A GP practice partner in my constituency told me over the weekend, “I love my job. I have never regretted becoming a GP until this week. Now I am seriously contemplating my future in this role.” This GP is one of eight partners in their practice, which delivers care to 19,000 patients in my constituency, but the financial pressure on them is bleak. If our GPs cannot afford to run their practice because of this Budget, they will have to reduce services, lose staff or, worse, cease to exist. My constituency cannot bear the loss of a single GP, let alone a whole practice. Will the Minister consider meeting me to look at options for mitigating the increased costs faced by GPs in my constituency due to the rise in national insurance contributions and the lowering of the earnings threshold for surgeries like Rowden?