What access to GPs tells us about the NHS 10 year plan, and online gambling

We’re 18 months into the Labour government, and their changes to the NHS are beginning to be felt. In the 10 year plan that they launched last year, they announced three planned shifts for the health service. Firstly, they pledge to move care from hospitals to the community, an increased focus on prevention rather than sickness, and shift from analogue to digital with an improved NHS app where patients can access records, seek advice and control some aspects of their care. However, accessing primary care and getting a GP appointment is still a key area of concern for patients and healthcare staff. In a new research paper on bmj.com , a group of researchers have performed a qualitative study asking 70 patients about their experiences of accessing primary care in England. We're joined by Hugh Alderwick and Luisa Petigrew from the Health Foundation to discuss what the findings mean for the 10 year plan. Also this week, online gambling is a growing problem. The immediacy of access, combined with advertising and push notifications, and a proliferation of new gambling companies, undermines traditional ways of managing a gambling addiction. A new analysis argues that these new forms of online gambling requires new forms of regulation. Spencer Murch from the University of Calgery offers some ideas on how that could work. Reading list Experience of access to general practice in England Policies to increase access to general practice may have unintended consequences Online gambling requires greater government regulation

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What access to GPs tells us about the NHS 10 year plan, and online gambling is an episode from The BMJ Podcast by The BMJ.

This episode is 37:35 long.

This episode was published on Jan 31, 2026.

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