Helen Salisbury: A new health secretary, optimism, and a note of caution

We have a new government, and in general practice there’s a mood of cautious optimism. The first visit made by Wes Streeting, the new secretary of state for health and social care, was to a general practice—a move that he said was a deliberate signal of his priorities in this role. During his visit he promised to increase the proportion of NHS funding allocated to general practice and to bring back the family doctor—although some of us never actually went away.1In a piece written for GPonline called “The cavalry is coming,” the new health secretary expanded on his plans for general practice, promising to incentivise continuity of care, which he rightly said is what patients and doctors both want and produces the best quality medical care.2 Unsurprisingly, details are scarce. Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee for England, has recently called for the percentage of the NHS…
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