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Labour calls for a GP in all major A&E departments

Labour has said it would put a GP in major A&E wards to deal with extra pressures over the winter if it were in power.

Party leader Ed Miliband set out a five-point plan for how he would tackle a crisis in A&E that happened under a Labour government, including getting practices to share free appointment slots and putting GPs in major A&Es to treat non-emergency patients.

He told the Daily Mirror that he would also put more nurses in NHS 111 call centres and stop the closure of walk-in centres.

In a health debate in Parliament, Labour shadow health minister Luciana Berger asked: ‘Will the Minister accept that his Government have made it harder to see a GP, and have caused the A&E crisis in the process? Will he respond to Labour’s call for GPs to be placed in major A&Es to help ease the pressure?’

In response, heealth minister Dr Dan Poulter repeated his claim that ‘under this Government, we have put in place an extra 1,000 GPs’.

The Labour Party has said it would restore patients’ right to see a GP within 48 hours.