Dear John,

This Labour Government is breaking new records - but for all the wrong reasons…

New research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows GP waits over two and four weeks will hit a record high in 2025.

Since 2020, there has been a 50% rise in patients waiting over 14 days - from 19.7 to 43 million appointments - and a 67% increase in those waiting over 28 days - from 5.8 to 12.9 million.

The struggle to see a GP has been normalised, John. So far this year, almost one in five people waited over two weeks, and one in 20 over four.

I don’t need to ask you to imagine how it must feel, sick, worried, or in pain, waiting to get the help you desperately need, because many of you will have experienced it yourself already.

Watch my video explaining how dangerous things have become:

Years of Conservative neglect broke our NHS and now Labour are failing to grasp this national crisis spiralling out of control.

General Practice is on the brink, with two GP surgeries closing every week, leaving family doctors responsible for hundreds more patients and forcing people to travel further and further to get help. Nearly ¾ of GPs now say patient safety is compromised by their workload, according to the Royal College of GPs.

Not only do patients suffer for longer as they wait, their conditions are at risk of getting severely worse - even life threatening.

We’re calling for an emergency package to save the family doctor so every patient can be seen within 7 days or 24 hours if urgent.

To achieve this, we would create a strategic fund to reopen surgeries, and a recruitment and retention drive to secure 8,000 more GPs. We would introduce a 24/7 GP booking system to end the ‘8am scramble’, with 111 call handlers trained to become GP receptionists, and dedicated local initiatives to end ‘GP deserts’.

Please sign our ‘GP Guarantee’ campaign and share it with your friends and family so no one is denied care when they need it:

or direct them to https://libdems.org.uk/gps

It’s time to treat this like the national crisis it is. Our nation’s health depends on saving the family doctor.

Best wishes,