GP waiting times surge again in West Sussex

West Sussex saw an alarming 42% rise in 4 week waits for GP appointments last year compared to 2022, according to House of Commons Library research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats.

NHS figures measure the time between when the appointment was booked and when it actually took place. The number of appointments where patients had to wait 2 weeks or longer in West Sussex also surged by 21% to 1,200,486 in 2023.

The Liberal Democrats say that government neglect of local health services has gone too far. They are calling for a legal right to get a GP appointment within 7 days, or 24 hours if in urgent need.

This right would be enshrined in the NHS Constitution, putting a duty on the government and the health service to make sure it happens. It would be achieved by increasing the number of GPs, and the number of nurses and pharmacists fully qualified to prescribe day to day medicines. 

Commenting, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Horsham, Cllr John Milne, said:

“Being able to see a GP promptly should not be too much to ask. But even on this measure people are being failed after years of neglect by this Conservative government.

“Yes, there’s a cost to providing more staff. But creating a bottleneck with GPs is a false economy. If you leave something for weeks before it even gets looked at, it will just end up needing more serious medical intervention.”

“If you’re struggling to get through the front door at your local GP, then all the other good work the health service does is going to be compromised.