Plans to free up millions of GP appointments and recruit volunteers to see NHS through winter

Plans to free up millions of GP appointments and recruit volunteers to help the NHS through this winter and the next have been set out by the Health and Social Care Secretary. Called 'Our Plan for Patients,' the package of measures will help people get GP appointments faster, as well as get through to their GP more easily, the government says.

Everyone who needs a doctor's appointment should get one at a GP practice within two weeks, while the most urgent cases should be seen within the same day, urgent needs should be seen within the same day, Thérèse Coffey expects. The plan will include changing funding rules to recruit extra support staff so GPs can focus on treating patients.

This will free up over one million appointments per year, while more state-of-the art telephone systems to make it easier for patients to get through to their GP surgeries. Pharmacies will also help to ease pressures on GPs, by managing and supplying more medicines - such as contraception - without a GP prescription.

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They will also take referrals from emergency care for minor illnesses or symptoms, such as a cough, headache or sore throat. It's thought that the move could free up to two million GP appointments a year.

As part of the plan, the public will be called upon to take part in a “national endeavour” to support the health and social care system. The one million volunteers who stepped up during the pandemic to support the NHS will be asked to come forward again, alongside a push for more volunteering across the NHS and social care.

Health Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Thérèse Coffey said: "I will put a laser-like