PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(28 August 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of levels of pressures in general practice on levels of (a) patient safety, (b) GP burnout and (c) demand for urgent care services, NHS 111 and accident and emergency departments.

Asked by:
Nadia Whittome (Labour)

As part of the 2026/27 GP Contract, changes were introduced to strengthen expectations around access to same-day assessment and management of urgent patient needs, helping practices ensure patients with urgent clinical needs can be assessed and directed to the most appropriate care in a timely way.

NHS England's Primary Care Patient Safety Strategy supports improvement through implementation of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), learning from patient safety incidents, development of a patient safety culture, and support for safer systems of working across primary care. NHS England also continues to support initiatives intended to reduce pressure across care pathways and improve patient access to appropriate services, recognising that system pressures can affect quality and safety across the National Health Service.

Additionally, the Department commissions the periodic National GP Worklife Survey to understand general practitioners’ (GPs) experiences at work and to help inform policymaking.

NHS England undertakes significant work regarding anticipated demand on NHS 111 services. This is based on a review of historical and current demand, using data on calls received over a rolling six-week period. The commissioning and provision of these NHS 111 services is the responsibility of integrated care boards.

Limitations of data capture in primary care and different models of delivery mean that there is no real time measure of primary care pressures and these may be variable across a provider area. NHS 111 providers rapidly flex resources, when possible, when demand deviates from forecasted demand.

Answered by:
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