Health and social care: “Exempt GPs now” from tax hike

We all know how important our family doctors are. That’s why it’s so worrying when I’ve heard from GPs all across South Cambridgeshire - from the surgeries in Comberton, Eversden, Harston, Melbourn and Queen Ediths - about the potentially devastating impact the rise in employer National Insurance Contributions announced in the Budget will have on their practices and on patient care. South Cambridgeshire’s GPs and care providers are already in crisis and some GPs have told me they could be “pushed to the brink” by this additional unfunded cost. They see no option but to reduce staff and appointments and some may even have to hand back their contracts, denying patients the opportunity of primary care in their community. I spoke up for GPs on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. The Government must change course and exempt GPs and independent care providers from this ill thought-through tax hike.