Around £102m in new funding will be committed to expanding and modernising GP surgeries in England, the government has said.More than 1,000 surgeries will benefit from the cash boost to upgrade and create additional space for doctors to see more patients. It is the biggest public investment in facilities for five years, according to the Department for Health and Social Care.Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “These are simple fixes for our GP surgeries, but for too long they were left to ruin, allowing waiting lists to build and stopping doctors treating more patients.”The projects are part of the government’s broader plans to overhaul the health service – and are set to begin this summer.”It is only because of the necessary decisions we took in the Budget that we are able to invest in GP surgeries, start tackling the 08:00 scramble and deliver better services for patients,” Streeting added.Long waiting times for GP appointments mean many people now try to book a same-day appointment. The “08:00 scramble” refers to the time many GP surgeries open their phone lines for on-the-day bookings.Just under 45% of all GP appointments in March this year took place on the same day they were booked, according to NHS England.The British Social Attitudes survey, published last month, found that just 31% of people in the UK were satisfied with NHS GP services – compared to 68% in 2019.Research by the Institute for Government, an independent think-tank, found that pat …
