On Friday 13 January Rt. Hon. Jeremy Corbyn MP visited the Andover Medical Centre in his Islington North constituency to hear about issues affecting the practice and its patients, particularly around bureaucracy and premises.
The visit was organised by Londonwide LMCs and attendee by Dr Adam Jenkins, the Chair of our Board and Dr Vicky Weeks, Medical Director for Islington. The Andover Medical Centre were represented by Dr Lucia Manfredi, Dr Rue Roy, Dr Nadia Zaman, Dr Debashis Singh, Dr Amita Varma and practice manager Sapna Khurana.
The practice has seen its list size double in less than 10 years and is currently going through the process of trying to expand its premises. This was discussed with Jeremy Corbyn who said he will help the practice with some of the challenges they face in implementing a successful expansion.
Two days after our meeting, and the day after Theresa May blamed lack of GP extended access for the A&E crisis, Jeremy Corbyn appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show the day after. Questioned on the issue Jeremy Corbyn mentioned his visit to the practice and raised the point that some 10 minute appointments can result in GPs doing half an hour to an hour’s worth of additional work.
The BMA has written a letter to the Prime Minister raising their concerns over her statement.
We regularly meet with London MPs from all political parties and will be contacting Parliamentarians with details of our recent workforce survey in the next few weeks. If you are planning to meet an MP, or other elected representatives feel free to contact us for advice on how to get the most out of the meeting.
