Cornish GP practices want the same as our patients: high-quality, safe and sustainable services, with patients prioritised according to their clinical needs.
We believe nobody should struggle to see their family doctor. General practice should be as it once was – a familiar family doctor, offering continuity of care in a surgery full of friendly familiar faces.
Unfortunately, GP practices in Cornwall – like elsewhere in the country – have suffered from years of under-resourcing and lack of investment following neglect from successive governments; there aren’t enough GPs to see patients; too much time is spent on admin and red tape; and demand for services is rising.
General practice is at a pivotal moment. Without bold and immediate action, we risk the collapse of a service that underpins the entire NHS.
That’s why Cornish GP surgeries were recently recognised as being amongst the most active and engaged in the country when lobbying the Government for more investment and resources – including recruiting and retaining more GPs and improvements to infrastructure – to ensure general practice is fit for the future.
Whilst the Government has just published its long-awaited 10-Year Health Plan for England, it still offers little in the way of detail or funding for general practice.
We believe general practice deserves a bigger slice of NHS funding to train and hire more GPs, deliver the services patients require and make it easier for patients to get appointments to see their GP and practice team. Patients may not be aware that – even after the current round of financial allocation – their GP team receives just 34p per day to cover core patient care. The BMA is clear: in order for general practice to be sustainable, that figure needs to be at least 42p per day. We still have a long way to go.
Despite the challenges faced, local GP surgeries are open as normal and their frontline teams are working as hard as ever. Cornwall regularly features among the best areas in the country for patient satisfaction with general practice services in independent national surveys, including the types of appointment offered to patients, their needs being met, trust and confidence in the healthcare professional who saw them, and the amount of time spent with them.
Additionally, new data confirms that, nationally, general practice has delivered over 7 million more appointments in the past year compared to last year, taking the total to a record 380 million. GP teams carried out 383.3m appointments in the last 12 months, compared to 375.7m in the previous year.
The latest available figures for June 2025 via the Royal College of General Practitioners also reveal:
GPs are seeing more and more patients with complex needs, who have either been discharged from or are waiting for specialist care, and are dependent on their GP.
But not everyone needs to see a GP, not everyone needs to be seen that day, and not everyone needs to be seen in person. Many patients find the availability, convenience and range of services offered by other staff members, such as Advanced Practitioners or Clinical Pharmacists, suitable to their needs.
We want patients to know that we’re on their side – and we encourage readers of this report to help Cornish GP surgeries continue to put pressure on the Government for a better deal for general practice and our patients by writing to their local MP.
