Opinion: People are fed up with the 8am scramble to get a doctor’s appointment

Nearly 80,000 people were waiting to start hospital treatment at local hospitals at the end of May, up nearly 15,000 people since last year.

This isn’t a record we should be proud of.

Time and again I speak to residents worried about whether they will be able to see a doctor, get a dentist appointment, or must wait longer for treatment.

I could write about this all day, as it is the most consistent message residents have raised with me for the last few years. This matters to me as a parent, councillor and local GP. I came into public service to help people with their healthcare, but it is clear – despite the promises of government – things aren’t working.

Do you remember when Rishi Sunak promised to cut waiting lists? Or the over promise of delivering 40 new hospitals? Well, since then things have worsened.

Waiting lists could now be in the Guinness Book of Records with 7.5 million people waiting to start treatment in England. And only one of their promised new hospitals being built by the time of the next election.

This isn’t just about our NHS staff. We have brilliant, dedicated NHS workforce across Peterborough doing their best, but they need the funding and support to do their job. I see this first hand as a local doctor, and in my work as the Chair of Peterborough City Council’s Health and Adults Scrutiny Committee.

If you thought hospital waiting lists were bad enough, the latest figures show that 23,000 people in our local health area had to wait more than a month to see a doctor in May. From Thorney to Bretton and everywhere in between too many people are struggling to get a doctor’s appointment when they need one or to find an NHS dentist.

No wonder thePeterborough Telegraph recently published details of a survey that revealed that patient satisfaction with GP services in Cambridgeshire had fallen from 71.6% in 2022 to 68.8% in 2023. This is why I have asked the council to bring a report on GP accessibility to our next Health Scrutiny Committee, so that we can bring everyone together to start improving GP access in the city.

As a local GP I, like my colleagues, love my job. But we need a government on our side.

Peterborough is a growing city, but resources are not keeping up with that growth.

The local plan proposed by the Conservative administration promises health and wellbeing projects that are not consistent with cuts to Adult Social care and Hydrotherapy in the city.

Politics should be about fixing basic things, like the cost-of-living crisis, healthcare access and safer streets.

The Tory government is failing on every measure. Conservative MPs seem more interested in arguing amongst themselves than helping the country.

The NHS was created in 1948 to provide good healthcare for everyone, free of charge and when you need it.

Labour still believes in this. It won’t be easy to put right the mess this government has created, but together, we can change things.

And start to get the resources and NHS care we need in Peterborough.