Over 1,500 extra GPs recruited to help end ‘8am scramble’ and bring back family doctor

If you’ve ever sat on hold to your GP at 8am, just to be told there are no appointments left, you’re not alone. In Blackpool South, I’ve heard this story on doorsteps, in community meetings and from local healthcare workers who are just as frustrated as their patients.

That’s why I’m proud that, just a few months into the Labour Government, we’re already turning that story around.

Since October, over 1,500 new GPs have been recruited across the country – doctors who weren’t able to take up posts under the previous government’s mess of red tape and short-sighted decisions. Now, thanks to Labour, those GPs are where they belong – in surgeries, seeing patients and bringing some much-needed relief to our overstretched services.

We said during the election campaign that we’d bring back the family doctor – and we meant it. This isn’t just about more appointments (though we’ve already delivered over two million extra, ahead of schedule). It’s about rebuilding the kind of NHS people in Blackpool South remember – one where you saw a familiar face, someone who knew your name.

We’ve backed this up with real investment – £889 million extra for general practice medicine – and stripped away pointless box-ticking that’s been tying GPs up in admin when they should be seeing patients. More time with patients, less time with paperwork – that’s the difference a government with a plan can make.

After years of underfunding, people have lost faith that a government will fix the NHS. But unlike the Conservatives, who made promise after promise and delivered crisis after crisis, Labour is actually getting on with it.

We’ve seen five months of falling waiting lists. GP surgeries are hiring again. And people in Blackpool South are finally starting to feel a difference – not just in the numbers, but in their daily lives.

This is just the start. I will keep fighting for a local NHS that works for you, your family and our community.