Last year there were 61 million GP appointments delayed for over two weeks or more. 

The Conservative government has failed our NHS and patients are paying the price.

The Liberal Democrats have a five-year plan to give patients a legal right to a  GP appointment within a week, or 24 hours if urgent.

What is the Liberal Democrats plan to fix the GP crisis?

The Liberal Democrat’s 5-year plan gives patients the legal right to see a GP within a week or 24 hours if needed urgently, this will be achieved by implementing a universal 24/7 GP booking system.

The plan will also free up GP appointment time by giving more prescribing rights and public health advisory services to qualified pharmacists, nurse practitioners and paramedics.

The number of GPs available will be increased to 8,000, half by boosting recruitment, including more opportunities for junior doctors and increasing training facilities.

The other half will be from incentivising more experienced GPs and nurses who’ve left the NHS to return. 

This Conservative government has decimated local health services and brought the NHS to its knees. It’s time for change. Back our GP Guarantee today.

The Liberal Democrats are fighting for real change this election. 

Under the Conservatives, people are struggling more than ever before.

Vote Liberal Democrat on 4th July to get the Conservatives out and elect a local champion who will fight for a fair deal for your community.

The Liberal Democrats are standing up for our NHS, addressing the cost of living crisis, and ensuring everyone gets the support they need.

Say YOU are with us.

LibDems.org.uk/vote-pledge

Time to elect fantastic Liberal Democrat MPs to champion their communities.

Time to change the system and give people real hope.

Time to smash the blue wall and kick out the Conservatives.

Time to deliver the fair deal the British people deserve.

Learn more about the Liberal Democrat plan for a Fair Deal.

Families who remortgaged in 2023 are facing a mortgage bombshell of almost £9bn this year. Commuter belt areas in the Blue Wall are the hardest hit, new analysis commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The research was produced by the House of Commons Library, using figures from the Office of National Statistics to work out total mortgage costs by local authority. The figures include households on variable rates, not just those on fixed rates that expired.

It shows over 3.5 million households in England and Wales remortgaged their homes last year, causing a combined £8.8 billion in additional mortgage payments a year as a result.

The Liberal Democrats said it shows Rishi Sunak’s boasts on inflation would “ring hollow” for families facing eye-watering increases in their monthly mortgage payments. 

Commuter areas in the Blue Wall, in London and the South East are among the worst affected by soaring mortgage costs. Buckinghamshire faces the largest total hit with a staggering £146 million in extra mortgage payments spread across 38,117 households. This was followed by the London boroughs of Wandsworth (£132m), Barnet (£115m) and Bromley (£102m). 

Wokingham had the highest proportion of households who remortgaged last year, with one in five (19.7%) impacted. This will lead to a combined mortgage hit of £38 million for 13,626 households in the area. Dominic Raab’s backyard of Elmbridge was also among the worst hit proportionally, with 18.5% of households impacted leading to £56 million in additional mortgage costs.

Households in Jeremy Hunt’s Surrey Local Authority area of Waverley are facing £34 million in extra mortgage costs after 8,706 remortgaged last year.

Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:

“Rishi Sunak’s boasts will ring hollow for the thousands of families seeing their mortgage go up by eye-watering amounts.

“This Conservative government crashed the economy and now they are condemning families to a £9 billion mortgage bombshell.

“Across the Blue Wall, former Conservatives fed up with being taken for granted are switching to the Liberal Democrats.”

Waiting lists have gone up by 330,000 since Rishi Sunak pledged to cut them in January last year.

NHS targets missed include:

• NHS waiting lists: NHS waiting lists stood at 7.54 million outstanding treatments in February 2024, up from 7.21 million in January 2023 when Rishi Sunak pledged to cut them. This is an increase of 330,000 (NHS England).
• 65 week waits: There were 75,000 65-weeks for treatment in February, despite a target to eliminate them by March 2024 (NHS England).
• A&E: 71.3% of patients were seen within 4 hours in all A&E in February, against a target of 76% (NHS England).
• Cancer: 63.9% of people treated began cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral in February 2024, against a target of 85% (NHS England).

Earlier this week, Liberal Democrats revealed that 100,000 patients waited over 24 hours to be admitted to hospital at A&E last year. These appalling waits have increased tenfold since the last General Election (Hospital Trusts).

Behind each one of these figures is a story of someone waiting in pain, worried sick about getting the care they need. These numbers expose the reckless damage done by this Conservative government’s neglect of the NHS and care. We desperately need more hospital beds and a long-term solution to the social care crisis, to end these devastating A&E delays.

To add insult to injury, the Conservatives have cut NHS spending while millions of patients are suffering in pain on endless waiting lists.

Rishi Sunak is living in a parallel universe if he thinks our National Health Service is recovering. The Conservative Party and the Prime Minister are out of touch, out of ideas and deserve to be kicked out of office.