GP surgeries to get £900,000 boost

The Department of Health and Social Care said an extra 70,000 appointments would be created in Shropshire

Almost £900,000 is due to be spent to improve GP surgeries in Shropshire over the next five years.

The Department for Health and Social Care said the changes would enable more than 70,000 extra appointments a year.

It said the surgeries had the capacity to take on more patients, but were held back because of outdated buildings limiting working spaces.

The money will be spent on adding new clinical rooms and space for confidential telephone consultations to take place.

The spending is part of a national spending programme of £102m, which the government said would benefit more than 1,000 surgeries across the country.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said: "These are simple fixes for our GP surgeries but for too long they were left to ruin, allowing waiting lists to build and stopping doctors treating more patients."