{"id":57559,"date":"2024-05-23T23:25:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T23:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/liberal-democrats-vow-to-hire-8000-gps-after-general-election\/"},"modified":"2024-05-23T23:25:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T23:25:25","slug":"liberal-democrats-vow-to-hire-8000-gps-after-general-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/liberal-democrats-vow-to-hire-8000-gps-after-general-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberal Democrats vow to hire 8,000 GPs after general election"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/0e7a\/live\/b81102c0-192d-11ef-8b52-2b41a6663d25.jpg?fit=1024,576&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Liberal Democrats vow to hire 8,000 GPs after general election\" title=\"Liberal Democrats vow to hire 8,000 GPs after general election\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The Liberal Democrats have pledged to recruit 8,000 more GPs if elected, putting the policy at &#8220;the heart&#8221; of their general election campaign offer.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Sir Ed Davey, the party&#8217;s leader, said the investment would create an extra 65 million appointments a year by the end of the next parliament.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The Lib Dems have unveiled a five-year plan aimed at <!-- --><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-politics-63506416\" class=\"sc-c9299ecf-0 bZUiKB\" rel=\"noopener\">fulfilling their longstanding ambition<!-- --><\/a> to ensure patients can see a medical practitioner within seven days.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Ramping up the party&#8217;s general election campaign, Sir Ed said &#8220;patients are bearing the brunt&#8221; of Conservative mismanagement of the NHS.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">He claimed the party had &#8220;brought the NHS to its knees&#8221; and &#8220;decimated local health services&#8221; during its time in government.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The Lib Dem leader continued: &#8220;It is an unacceptable situation and one that is only getting worse after years of Conservative chaos and neglect.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">&#8220;The Liberal Democrats would give people a legal right to see a GP in a week or 24 hours if in urgent need, so people aren&#8217;t ever left struggling to get an appointment.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">&#8220;This is at the heart of our offer to voters at this election and our plan to fix the health and care crisis.\u201d<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Half of the 8,000 extra GPs would come from boosting recruitment, while the rest would be secured by retaining more experienced GPs, the Lib Dems said.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The party estimates that its plans would cost \u00a34bn over five years. It says it has several revenue-raising proposals including reversing cuts to taxes on banks. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The policy only applies to England, as health is devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">During the 2019 election, the Conservatives promised to deliver 6,000 more GPs by 2024.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">According to data from NHS England published on Thursday, there are now 37,237 full-time equivalent GPs across England, an increase of 2,500 since 2019.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Under Rishi Sunak, the party promised to ease pressure on GP appointments by expanding pharmacy roles, aiming to free up 15 million appointments in two years for quicker patient access.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Labour has promised to train more GPs and reduce pressure on current staff by accelerating independent prescribing for pharmacists, allowing them to manage more conditions and support practices better.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The Lib Dems are targeting 80 marginal Conservative seats in the party&#8217;s southern &#8220;blue wall&#8221; during this election campaign. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">On Thursday, Sir Ed began the campaign with a visit to ultra-marginal constituency Cheltenham. It is represented by Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, who held it with a majority of just 981 in 2019.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">During the visit the Lib Dem leader argued for the need to &#8220;transform our politics&#8221; in order to &#8220;repair our health and care system, restore the economy, end the sewage scandal and secure a fair deal for people&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The Lib Dems have ruled out a post-election deal with the Conservatives similar to the 2010 Cameron-Clegg coalition. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Its deputy leader Daisy Cooper claimed many lifelong Tory voters could not &#8220;stomach&#8221; the party anymore.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cy66901gz3po\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Liberal Democrats have pledged to recruit 8,000 more GPs if elected, putting the policy at &#8220;the heart&#8221; of their general election campaign offer. Sir Ed Davey, the party&#8217;s leader, said the investment would create an extra 65 million appointments a year by the end of the next parliament. The Lib Dems have unveiled a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/0e7a\/live\/b81102c0-192d-11ef-8b52-2b41a6663d25.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[2685,50,1032,3845,18584,2542,20725],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57559"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57561,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57559\/revisions\/57561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}