#GPnews: Prime Minister urged to take urgent action on patient access to GP

13:50 ‘Something has got to give,’ says shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth in this video about the Labour Party’s warning over access to GP apponitments.

Millions of us are struggling to get GP appointments and cancelled operations are at record highs. When will Theresa May take urgent action? pic.twitter.com/EwjJPdljb6

— Jonathan Ashworth (@JonAshworth) August 7, 2017

12:30 The number of CCGs restricting or completely stopping IVF treatment since the beginning of this year has reached 13, according to Fertility Network UK.

Another eight CCGs are consulting on doing the same as part of cost-saving measures, reports the Guardian.

This comes despite NICE recommending women under 40 should be offered three IVF cycles on the NHS if they have tried and failed to conceive for two years.

The research also found that the number of CCGs offering the full three cycles has falled by almost half – from 50 in 2013 to 27 this year.

Data supplid to Pulse by Fertility Network UK earlier this year showed that nearly one in ten CCGs are consulting on making cuts to fertility services.

09:50 The Labour Party has attacked the Government’s track record on general practice, with the Guardian and the Independent both picking up the story this morning.

The shadow health team has analysed the latest GP Patient Survey results, finding that it ‘reveals a marked worsening of access to GP surgeries over the past five years, largely as a result of sustained Tory underfunding of primary care services’.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: ‘This research exemplifies just how hard it is becoming to see a GP in Tory Britain, with patients’ overall experience of their GP services getting drastically worse.

‘Overworked and underfunded GPs are struggling to cope with rising needs from patients. Across the country GPs and practice staff are working to keep the service running in the face of astonishing neglect from Theresa May and her ministers.

‘The British public deserves better. Labour would give GPs the resources and support they need to provide better and more accessible services for patients.’