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Harrogate MP calls for right to see GP within a week

Wednesday, 16 April 2025 07:56

Tom Gordon, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Local MP Tom Gordon has called for patients to be given a legal right to see their GP within a week, or 24-hours if in urgent need.

There were 299,152 waits of a month or longer for a GP appointment in North Yorkshire last year - an increase on the previous year, according to research by the House of Commons Library

It meant that waits of a month or longer in North Yorkshire accounted for 5% of all GP appointments.

There were 910,013 waits of two weeks or longer in 2024, up from 671,292 the previous year, a rise of 36%.

Waits of two weeks or longer accounted for 24.1% of all waits in North Yorkshire in 2023.

Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said:

“Behind these figures are individuals in our community who have had to wait in pain just to get the care they deserve, with potentially devastating consequences.

“It lays bare just how badly the Conservative broke health services here in North Yorkshire through their unforgivable neglect.

“The Labour government is now showing an inexcusable lack of urgency in fixing this crisis, opting for review after review instead of delivering action for people in our area.”

Previous analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research has found that one in eight of those who could not get a GP appointment went to A&E instead.

Analysis of long A&E waits has suggested that they could have been responsible for 50,000 deaths last year.

Tom added:

“We need to see a legal right for patients to see a GP within seven days or 24-hours if in urgent need.

“Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to show more ambition in order to get patients in our area the care they deserve.

“Anything less will just prolong the misery.”

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