A report by the consultancy Deloitte, leaked to The Daily Mirror, has concluded that cuts to current health service would reduce funding to GP surgeries by £1.5 billion (17%), in real terms, by 2017. The report also warned that the UK’s ageing population means that the number of appointments needed would increase by 69 million a year to 409 million.
Chair of the RCGP, Dr Maureen Baker, argued in response to the report that “if general practice is run on a shoestring, waiting lists will inevitably get even longer and standards of care will fall.”
