FAMILY PRACTITIONER SERVICES
Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion and how much of the NHS budget has been spent on general practice in each of the last 15 years for which figures are available. [201960]
Dr Poulter, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health: The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) collects data on the total expenditure on general practice, both including and excluding the cost of dispensed drugs. The latest available data is from 2012-13, and the earliest available data is 2003-04.
General practice spend as proportion of the national health service budget is taken using the total Departmental Expenditure Limits from the Department of Health Annual Report 2012-13. The latest available data is from 2012-13, and the earliest available data is 2007-08. Substantial changes in methodology for calculating total NHS expenditure before 2007-08 mean directly comparable figures cannot be provided beyond this year to allow for like-for-like comparisons of the proportion of NHS budget spent on general practice.
| Total spend on general practice, 2003-04 to 2012-13 (£ million) | ||
| Total spend | Total net of dispensing | |
| 2003-04 | 5,811 | 5,006 |
| 2004-05 | 6,914 | 6,061 |
| 2005-06 | 7,747 | 6,864 |
| 2006-07 | 7,757 | 6,943 |
| 2007-08 | 7,867 | 7,053 |
| 2008-09 | 7,961 | 7,145 |
| 2009-10 | 8,321 | 7,514 |
| 2010-11 | 8,350 | 7,543 |
| 2011-12 | 8,397 | 7,607 |
| 2012-13 | 8,459 | 7,690 |
| Source: HSCIC ‘Investment in General Practice’ (2008-09 to 2012-13) and HSCIC ‘Investment in General Practice’ (2003-04 to 2009-10) | ||
| General practice spend as proportion of NHS budget, 2007-08 to 2012-13 (percentage) | |
| General practice spend as proportion of NHS Budget | |
| 2007-08 | 9.31 |
| 2008-09 | 8.74 |
| 2009-10 | 8.45 |
| 2010-11 | 8.32 |
| 2011-12 | 8.16 |
| 2012-13 | 8.04 |
| Source: HSCIC ‘Investment in General Practice’ (2008-09 to 2012-13), HSCIC ‘Investment in General Practice’ (2003-04 to 2009-10) and Department of Health ‘Annual Report and Accounts’ (2012-13). | |
Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioner surgeries are open seven days a week; and if he will make a statement. [201966]
Dr Poulter: Data is not held centrally on how many general practices are open seven days a week.
However, the Government recognises the importance of timely access to general practice. This is why the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund has allocated £50 million to support 20 pilots to test innovative ways of improving access to general practitioner services and patient experience in their local areas. The pilots will benefit over 7.5 million patients across more than 1,110 practices, from rural areas to inner cities.
A wide variety of approaches to improving access are being tested: extended opening hours on weekdays and weekends; better use of telecare and health apps; more innovative ways to access services by Skype, e-mail or phone; more integrated services with a single point of contact to co-ordinate patients services across health and social care.
Learning and best practice from the pilots will be shared with the wider NHS during the course of the pilot programme.