It is the first national capital fund for primary care estates since 2020, but the BMA questions how much it will fix. 

The government has trumpeted a cash injection of more than £102 million so that more than 1,000 GP surgeries will receive what it calls “a bricks and mortar upgrade” to modernise practices.

This represents the biggest investment in GP facilities in five years and is only possible, it says, because of the difficult choices made by the government to invest £26 billion into the NHS.

“These are simple fixes for our GP surgeries but for too long they were left to ruin, allowing waiting lists to build and stopping doctors from treating more patients,” said health and social care secretary Wes Streeting. 

This is the first national capital fund for primary care estates since 2020 and part of a package of GP support, alongside recruiting 1,500 additional GPs and reducing bureaucracy.

Lord Darzi’s report found that outdated, inefficient buildings create barriers to high-quality patient care and reduce staff productivity.

“My review found that the primary care estate is simply not fit for purpose, with many GP surgeries housed in inflexible, outdated buildings that cannot enable safe, high-quality care,” he said. 

He calls the investment “a crucial turning point” in addressing the issue.

A drop in the ocean

The response from the British Medical Association (BMA) was more measured. 

Although, as Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of GPC England, said the new funding was “welcome”, she pointed out that £102 million would barely pay for a handful of individual new surgeries, let alone do much to restore the more than 1,000 at which it is aimed.

“For the majority of patients, their NHS experience starts and ends with general practice. The capital spending on this all-important part of the NHS journey is currently a tiny fraction of the total,” she said. 

“If they can deliver major investment in GP premises renewal, the government has an opportunity to deliver visible change to the 1.5 million patients who use GP services across England every day,” she continued.