GP hopeful for NHS changes with new government

Dr Jamie Green said NHS practices had experienced "systemic underfunding"

A family doctor said the result of last week's general election was a "great opportunity for change" in the health service.

Labour secured a landslide victory on Thursday and new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has pledged to deliver an additional 40,000 NHS appointments a week.

Following the election, the new Health Secretary Wes Streeting described the NHS as "broken".

Dr Jamie Green from Delapre Medical Centre in Northampton said he hoped the new government would "really look at how we do things".

In its manifesto, Labour promised to deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans and appointments a week in England - two million a year - by introducing more weekend services, as well as turning to the private sector.

It said the money would come from cracking down on non-domestic tax arrangements.

The government will also be tasked with resolving long-running pay disputes.

Dr Green said funding was a key issue for the health service at a local and national level.

Junior doctors in England last went on strike at the end of June in what was the 11th walkout since early last year.

"We've seen a sort of systemic underfunding of not just primary care, but the whole health service," said Dr Green.

"While money has gone up, if you compare our position to the rest of Europe, we've fallen dramatically down the table of investment per GDP in the NHS.

"This isn't going to be quick, because it's been underfunded for such a long time. Throwing just money at it is going to be the key, but there's going to need to be some real fundamental changes to how we look at patient care."

The British Medical Association (BMA) has repeatedly asked for a 35% rise, to make up for what it said were 15 years of below-inflation pay rises.

Mr Streeting previously said he would not meet the 35% pay rise demanded by the BMA. But he said there was "space for a discussion" on pay, as well as negotiations on how to improve working conditions for medics in training.