Health and Social Care Secretary to set out new plan for patients

A new drive to improve access to general practice appointments will be the centrepiece of a new Our Plan for Patients that will be unveiled by the Health and Social Care Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister. As the 1st step in her efforts to put the NHS and social care on a resilient footing, Thérèse Coffey will set out her expectation that everyone who needs 1 should get an appointment at a GP Practice within 2 weeks; and that the patients with the most urgent needs should be seen within the same day.

The plan will include changing funding rules to recruit extra support staff so hardworking GPs can focus on treating patients; freeing up over 1 million appointments per year, as well as more state of the art telephone systems to make it easier for patients to get through to their GP Surgeries.

There will also be more information available for patients, with appointments data published at a practice level for the 1st time ever.

Pharmacies will help ease pressures on GPs and free up time for appointments by managing and supplying more medicines such as contraception without a GP prescription, which could free up to 2 million general practice appointments a year, and taking referrals from emergency care for minor illnesses or symptoms, such as a cough, headache or sore throat.

As part of Our Plan for Patients, Dr Coffey will also call on the public to take part in a:- "national endeavour" to support the health and social care system, calling on the 1 million volunteers who stepped up during the Pandemic to support the NHS to come forward again. This will include a push for more volunteering across the NHS and social care.

Health and Social Care Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Thérèse Coffey is expected to say:- "I will put a laser like focus on the needs of patients, making their priorities my priorities and being a champion for them on the issues that affect them most. Our Plan for Patients will make it easier to get a general practice appointment and we will work tirelessly to deliver that, alongside supporting our hardworking GP teams. We know this winter will be tough and this is just the 1st step in our work to bolster our valued NHS and social care services so people can get the care they need."

From November, the NHS will accelerate the roll out of new cloud based telephone systems to make it easier for patients to get through to their general practice, with more phone lines to take calls from patients and provide information about their place in the queue, or direct them to the right place for help.

As part of the extra staff to support GPs to focus on seeing patients, the Government will free up funding for practices to employ more roles, including:- GP assistants and more advanced Nurse Practitioners, in addition to the roles they are already able to recruit such as:- Pharmacists, mental health practitioners and Nursing associates. This supports the Government's commitment to deliver 26,000 more primary care staff to help improve access to appointments.

Our Plan for Patients will build on the NHS winter plan and set out further detail on how the public will receive the care they need this winter and next across the Health and Social Care Secretary's A, B, C and D priorities, Ambulances, backlogs, care and Doctors and Dentists.

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MERSEYRAIL will run a limited train service on Saturday, 1 October 2022, due to a planned 24 hour strike by Network Rail staff who are members of the RMT Union. The Liverpool City Region rail network is affected by the UK wide national walk out, as Network Rail signalling and maintenance employees will be taking industrial action from:- 7am, on Saturday, 1 October 2022, to 7:30, on Sunday, 2 October 2022. Whilst Merseyrail employees are not involved in the industrial action, Network Rail's arrangements with contingency staff restrict Merseyrail's ability to run the full train service. Merseyrail will run an hourly service calling at all Stations on selected lines between 07:30 and 18:30 to help passengers make essential journeys.

A summary of services that will operate on Saturday, 1 October 2022, is as follows:-

► Chester and Ellesmere Port lines: No trains will operate between Chester and Rock Ferry or Ellesmere Port and Rock Ferry.

► Trains will run hourly between Rock Ferry and Liverpool Central, calling at all Stations.

► New Brighton line - Trains will run hourly, calling at all Stations.

► West Kirby line - Trains will run hourly, calling at all Stations.

► Southport line - Trains will run hourly, calling at all Stations.

► Hunts Cross line - No trains will operate between Liverpool Central and Hunts Cross.

► Ormskirk line - Trains will run hourly, calling at all Stations.

► Kirkby line - Trains will run hourly, calling at all Stations.

There will be no trains on the Merseyrail network before approximately:- 7:30am or after approximately 6:30pm. on Saturday, 1 October 2022.

There are no rail replacement buses on the strike day. Passengers should make alternative travel arrangements where necessary.

On Sunday, 2 October 2022, a normal service will be in operation from the start of service. However, due to planned engineering works, there will be disruption on the Southport, West Kirby and New Brighton lines.

This will see rail replacement buses run between:- Hall Road Station and Southport Station, and between:- Birkenhead North and all Stations to:- West Kirby and New Brighton.

Full timetables are available via the operator's website.

Andy Heath, Managing Director at Merseyrail said:- "We continue to work closely with Network Rail to allow train services to operate on our Network during these further periods of National disruption. However, anyone planning to travel on October 1 needs to be aware that our trains are likely to be very busy. So, please plan your journey carefully, allow for extra travelling time and be patient with us. We will be working hard to ensure you get to where you need to be."

Customers hoping to travel onwards on other train operators should check relevant websites, as many train companies are not running services on 1 October 2022. Merseyrail services are not expected to be affected by the Industrial action that has been announced for some train operating companies on 5 October 2022.