Tory promises seven-day GP access

WARRINGTON North Conservative Parliamentary candidate Richard Short his party’s proposal to bring back seven-day GP access if elected.
He has roundly blamed Labour for renegotiating GP contracts with salaries and bonuses topping £100,000 with no requirement to provide evening or weekend hours.
Mr Short said: “So extraordinary were the new contracts that the British Medical Association were shocked by the approach taken by the last Labour
Government and never believed they would be allowed to opt out of 24 hour coverage1.
“This has had a damaging affect on Warrington North residents and placed unprecedented demand on our NHS.
“A Conservative Government promises to rectify Labour’s irresponsibility and put back access to GP surgeries between 8am and 8pm seven days a week by 2020. This is how long it will take to get out of the contracts and rectify Labour’s incompetence.
“We must not give them control again.”
Mr Short said the Conservative-led government had also protected NHS budgets since 2010 and poured millions extra into A&E.
The Conservative candidate claimed Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, branded the protection of NHS spending as “irresponsible” in 2010.
But in 2009 he admitted to the influential health
think-tank the Kings Fund, that if Labour were still in power after 2010 they would have to find savings of up to £20 billion from the NHS budget.  Had Labour been able to implement these cuts the effect on Warrington residents would have been devastating.
Mr Short added: “I remember the days when you could ring your GP in the evening or at the weekend and a duty doctor would come to your house to give you the care and treatment you needed 24 hours a day. When my three children were very young this was an absolute essential service.
“It all came to an abrupt stop in 2004 when Labour changed the GP contracts and I’m really pleased that a Conservative Government will bring in seven-day access for GP appointments and put patients first.
“Labour keep trying to use the NHS as an electoral weapon. They even released misleading figures on the number of GPs in Warrington,
“But they issued old figures.  but what they didn’t tell you is these were old figures.
“Numbers of GPs were falling under Labour in 2010 but they have now increased in Warrington and throughout England – that is a fact.
“Rather than use the NHS as a political football, I would rather fight for continued improvement.”