Wes Streeting, the incoming Health and Social Care Secretary was joined by NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard on a tour of the Abbey Medical Centre, a research active GP Practice in St John’s Wood, Camden, where the pair met with and listened to staff.
The Abbey Medical Centre is a leading teaching and research practice that trains medical students and specialist trainees in general practice - complementing the government’s aims to train thousands more GPs. The practice has supported many projects across different specialities, offering their patients the chance the participate in research around cancer screening and support, cardiovascular health and asthma management.
NHS England Chief Executive, Amanda Pritchard, said:
“It was excellent to join the Secretary of State visiting Abbey Medical Centre this afternoon - it was powerful to hear directly from patients about the importance of GP and primary care services.”
“Staff here also told us about the struggles they face with waiting lists but also how they are responding to emerging new health and care needs in their local community.”
“GP teams are the bedrock of the NHS but right across the country, they are under huge pressure and working incredibly hard to deliver more appointments. We know there is much more work to do to support them and to transform primary care services. We look forward to working with the government and colleagues in primary care to do that.”
The Secretary of State has previously spoken about his plans to increase investment in primary care, including trialling neighbourhood health centres, which will bring together existing community services under one roof.
More information on this article can be read in the press release from the Department of Health and Social Care on the Gov.UK website: New health secretary joined by NHS CEO on London GP surgery visit