‘They are crying out for support!’
Labour’s new plan to slash NHS waiting lists has been branded a “gimmick” by Shadow Paymaster General Richard Holden, claiming that GPs are “crying out for support” from the Government.
GPs in England will receive a £20 payment each time they avoid referring a patient directly to hospital under a new Government scheme aimed at cutting waiting lists.
The £80million initiative, known as “Advice and Guidance”, aims to divert up to two million patients from hospital waiting lists by the end of 2025/26.
Defending the plans, Health Minister Karin Smyth told GB News that it will mean people are treated “more locally”, and makes sure that patients can be “treated more quickly” by the NHS.
Richard Holden has hit out at the ‘gimmick’ of offering NHS GPs a £20 bonus for not referring patients to hospital
Getty / GB News
Hitting out at the decision, Richard Holden told GB News: “I don’t know any GP who refers people to services that they don’t need and don’t require.
“On the flip side, I want some sensible moves in that direction as well, if there are possible ones. I think this is a smokescreen, though, if I’m totally honest.”
Criticising Labour’s economic plans for the NHS, Holden stated that GPs have told him directly that the Chancellor’s National Insurance Tax rise is “hammering” services up and down the country.
Holden explained: “GPs have come to my surgery in the last few weeks and months, and have all said they are not being compensated for the national Insurance tax rise, which is absolutely hammering GP services up and down the country and is costing them hundreds of millions of pounds.
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GPs in England will receive a £20 payment each time they avoid referring a patient directly to hospital under a new government scheme aimed at cutting NHS waiting lists
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“So this money here is just an absolute drop in the ocean as to what the Government is already forcing them to pay out.”
Issuing a warning to Labour, Holden claimed that GPs will have to “cut back on services” even with the “bonus” scheme in place, due to the costs of National Insurance hikes.
Holden added: “It means that at the moment that GPs are going to have to restrict services or cut back on staff like receptionists and other things, who are absolutely those frontline actual NHS workers, ensuring people can get appointments.
“They’re going to have to cut back on that because of the National Insurance tax that Labour has imposed.”
Holden told GB News that the plans are a ‘smokescreen’ by the Government
GB News
Hitting out at the “gimmick” proposed by the Government, Holden concluded: “National Insurance tax is hitting businesses which actually create the wealth in our country to fund our public services, and it’s also hitting the public services like our GPs and like our schools.
“And both have got in touch with me to say all the money that’s been provided by the Government to compensate them for the rise in National Insurance isn’t enough, and they’re going to have to cut back on staff as a result of it.”
He added: “It feels to me like a gimmick when the GPs are really crying out for proper support.”
Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of the BMA’s GP committee for England, said: “This scheme was recently negotiated between the BMA and the Government and starts us on a path of funding what was previously undertaken by GPs and their team for no additional resources.”
She described it as “an important small step in acknowledging the important role of the GP” following “decades of underinvestment in general practice”.