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GPs plan to triple on-day ‘hub’ appointments

A system-wide GP provider collaborative will significantly expand on-the-day centralised “hubs” as part of its plan to transform general practice, it has announced.

A draft plan for the future of general practice in Cornwall has been developed by its General Practice Collaborative Board, including the county’s primary care network clinical directors, Kernow Local Medical Committee, and GP federation Kernow Health.

A big part of its draft plan is to substantially develop segmentation of patients. Under this, growing numbers of people would be sent to centralised “hubs” for non-complex but urgent appointments.

The registered population would be assigned to red, amber or green categories in the GP IT system. Around half of practice appointments would be protected for amber and red patients – the most vulnerable, with ongoing conditions – while green patients, who are generally well, would more often be sent to hubs.

This kind of approach has proven controversial in some areas in recent years, particularly integrated care board proposals in north west London; although many areas have adopted some form of urgent care hubs. 

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Source: HSJ, 4 November 2024

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GPs now dealing with up to 3,000 patients each as staff shortages worsen

GPs are attempting to deal with up to 3,000 patients each, amid worsening staff shortages, according to new analysis.

The research shows that the number of patients per GP has risen sharply, as rising numbers of doctors reduce their hours, or opt for early retirement.

Daisy Cooper, spokeswoman for Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care, said:

“This ever-worsening GP shortage is having a terrible human cost, as people face delayed or missed diagnoses and A&Es fill up with desperate patients looking for treatment."

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Source: Telegraph, 14 February 

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GPs now dealing with up to 3,000 patients each as staff shortages worsen

GPs are attempting to deal with up to 3,000 patients each, amid worsening staff shortages, according to new analysis commissioned by the Liberal Democrats.

The research shows that the number of patients per GP has risen sharply, as rising numbers of doctors reduce their hours, or opt for early retirement. The figures, which track the number of “full-time equivalent” fully qualified GPs, show the number has fallen from 29,320 in 2016 to 27,372 last year. The trend follows a rise in part-time work, with the average GP now working a three-day week. 

On average, there are now 2,273 patients per fully qualified doctor, up from 1,981 in 2016, the research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows. While the total number of GPs fell by almost 2,000, the number of registered patients grew from 58 million to 62.2 million, according to the House of Commons Library.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said the research “shows yet again how GPs and our teams are working above and beyond to deliver care to an ever-growing patient population, with falling numbers of fully qualified, full-time equivalent GPs.”

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Source: The Telegraph, 14 February 2023

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GPs lose half an hour every day battling ‘clunky’ IT

GPs waste half an hour every day navigating “clunky” IT systems that mean patients’ details get lost or bounced around between doctors, a survey suggests.

The Royal College of General Practitioners said the NHS lost the equivalent of £410 per GP per day because doctors had to spend time on “avoidable” bureaucracy instead of seeing patients.

Overall, GPs said they spent a quarter of their working hours on administrative tasks such as issuing sick notes or chasing information from other parts of the NHS. 

One of the biggest frustrations, according to the survey of more than 2,000 GPs, was the “inefficient” IT systems used for referring patients to hospital specialists for further tests. The college highlighted the loss of patient details and family doctors having to pick up the pieces.

The report said: “The majority of GP participants reported spending 25-30 minutes per day completing tasks relating to a referral or follow-up activities, including manual data entry, re-issuing prescriptions and re-sending referrals, including those which had been lost, bounced back or rejected because of inconsistent and ‘clunky’ pathways.”

GPs described having to act as a “safety net” for the rest of the NHS, dealing with follow-up work from the rest of the system and other “pointless” tasks creating a “hidden workload”.

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Source: The Times, 29 April 2026

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GPs insist NHS ‘ready to go’ in rapidly rolling out Oxford vaccine

Doctors on the front line of the UK’s vaccine programme have said they are “ready to go” and will be able to administer doses “very quickly” in the months ahead, amid questions over whether or not the NHS can inoculate 2 million people a week.

After suggestions that staffing constraints could hinder the roll-out of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which was approved for use last week, NHS officials and GPs have insisted that the health service is primed to deliver doses as soon “as supply becomes available”.

On Monday, Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said 100 hospital hubs and 700 vaccination centres – based in GP practices and other community settings – would have access to the vaccine by the end of the week, with plans in place to expand the programme.

“We aim to get it into people’s arms as quickly as it is supplied to us,” Prof Powis said. “If we get 2 million doses a week, our aim is to get 2 million doses into the arms of those priority groups."

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Source: The Guardian, 4 January 2021

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GPs in England treat up to three times more patients than safety limit demands

GPs are struggling to cope with as many as 90 appointments and consultations a day – more than three times a recommended safety limit.

General practices in England are carrying out more appointments than before the pandemic but face severe workforce shortages. More than 1.45 million patients waited at least 28 days to see a GP in September, according to the most recent NHS figures.

GPs who spoke to the Observer last week say that almost every day they breach the BM) guideline of “not more than 25 contacts per day” to deliver safe care. One doctor said he had more than 90 consultations on one day.

A conference of local medical committee representatives in England this week will highlight the growing pressures faced in general practice. Surgeries are being urged to impose stricter caps on the number of patient appointments for each GP.

One of the proposed motions submitted to the conference by Kensington and Chelsea local medical committee says “focusing on patient safety” is more appropriate than meeting high patient demand. It says the NHS should focus on “safe capacity”.

Such a move would mean longer waits for GP appointments, but doctors say it would help safeguard patient care and the welfare of staff in general practice.

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Source: The Guardian, 20 November 2022

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GPs in England too ‘overloaded’ to help older people at risk of falling, say MPs

GPs in England are so “overloaded” that they cannot help older people who are at risk of falling in what NHS bosses accept is an unacceptable failure of care, the House of Commons’ public accounts committee has said.

Pressure on GPs’ time has intensified as a result of the government’s decision to give patients online access to their services, according to a report by the influential cross-party group of MPs.

The committee found that GPs are doing too little to tackle falls even though they are the most common cause of death from injury among over-65s, cause tens of thousands of hip fractures, add to hospitals’ workloads and cost the UK an estimated £4.4bn a year.

Family doctors in England are obliged under the terms of their contract to identify, assess and support people over 65 with moderate or severe frailty. However, “many GPs are not currently able to deliver on these requirements”. During 2024/25 just 17% of those patients were assessed.

Only 18% of the 226,000 people who were diagnosed with severe frailty that year were assessed for their risk of falling and only 16% underwent a review of the medication they were taking.

Prof Victoria Tzortziou Brown, the president of the Royal College of GPs, said the report vindicated its warnings that “prioritising online access to our services without equal focus on continuity and proactive care may have unintended consequences for other areas of care, and risks disadvantaging some of our most vulnerable patients.

“While most GP practices will always try to offer their older patients the time they need, this is increasingly challenging against a backdrop of intense workloads and workforce pressures while also responding to increasing demand and policy requirements to improve access.”

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Source: The Guardian, 3 June 2026

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GPs in England threaten action over online appointment booking plan

GPs in England are threatening to take action over government plans to increase patients’ online access to appointments which they say will lead to a “tsunami” of extra demand.

Ministers have been given 48 hours to put in place measures to stop GPs being overwhelmed when the new system – intended to help patients beat “the 8am scramble” – starts on Wednesday.

The British Medical Association (BMA) agreed a deal with NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in February that will let patients request an appointment with a family doctor using online booking between 8am and 6.30pm from Monday to Friday.

The doctors’ union claims ministers have broken a promise made then to implement “necessary safeguards” before 1 October to ensure that patients only sought non-urgent consultations online.

The BMA says the extension of digital booking to everyone will overload GPs and risk patient safety.

The chair of the BMA’s GPs committee, Dr Katie Bramall, said the introduction of the system “will likely lead to the creation of hospital-style waiting lists in general practice”.

The union also says the move will lead to family doctors being able to see fewer patients face to face because they will be too busy assessing the all-day stream of requests for a consultation.

“Online systems currently cannot distinguish between non-urgent and urgent patient queries, and with practices already understaffed and overworked, GPs fear this could lead to potentially serious and life-threatening problems being delayed or missed entirely,” the BMA said.

“Doctors will need to be reallocated away from booked appointments to manage the potential online triage tsunami, leading to fewer GP appointments with patients.

“GPs are worried that without any increase in practice capacity, considerable amounts of practice time will be diverted to reviewing the barrage of online requests and queries, thus reducing time for routine appointments and planned patient care.”

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Source: The Guardian, 29 September 2025

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GPs in England may stop monitoring vulnerable patients

Ministers may allow GPs in England to halt regular monitoring of millions of patients with underlying health problems as part of the urgent new blitz on delivering Covid booster jabs.

Sajid Javid and NHS bosses are locked in talks with GP representatives at the British Medical Association (BMA) about relaxing rules which mean family doctors undertake checks on people with diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions that mean they are at higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

It came as the health secretary announced the government has secured contracts to buy 114m more vaccine doses for next year and 2023. The deals, accelerated in the wake of the Omicron variant, will see the UK purchase 54m more Pfizer/BioNTech jabs and 60m from Moderna to “future-proof” the inoculation programme, Javid said.

The BMA, the doctors’ union, has been lobbying Javid for months to suspend or scrap the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF), which it says is “bureaucratic” and interferes with GPs’ right to judge how they care for patients.

Officials with knowledge of the talks told the Guardian that those involved spent much of Tuesday discussing the suspension of part or all of the requirements under QOF. “They’re talking about a partial suspension of QOF. But they may well just bin it,” one said.

However, sources stressed that ministers are nervous about approving a move that could lead to claims that vulnerable patients could see any deterioration in their condition go undetected by GPs.

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Source: The Guardian, 1 December 2021

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GPs in England left waiting up to a month for flu vaccine supplies

GP surgeries are waiting up to a month for supplies of this winter’s flu vaccine amid unprecedented numbers of patients seeking jabs ahead of the second wave of COVID-19, family doctors have said.

The Royal College of GPs (RCPG) has written to the health secretary, Matt Hancock, seeking assurances that they will have enough doses of the vaccine to cope with demand. The struggle to get jabs has prompted fears that vulnerable groups, including elderly people and those with underlying conditions, will go unprotected.

“We have heard anecdotally that some surgeries are waiting up to a month for replenished supplies of vaccine, which raises concerns that there are significant distribution problems,” Prof Martin Marshall, the RCGP’s chair and a family doctor in London, said in the letter.

One GP in Nottingham said there had been “a huge uptake compared to previous years, well over what we anticipated” at their surgery among groups eligible for the free jab, “so supplies ran out quickly”.

“The next delivery is several weeks away and there are patients in at-risk groups who are having to wait. We have a patient aged 70 with heart disease who wants the vaccine but we currently have none to give her until the next delivery in mid to late October,” the GP said.

Shortages mean that people aged 50 to 64, who are being offered a jab for the first time on the NHS, may have to wait until those with a greater medical need have been immunised first.

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Source: The Guardian, 4 October 2020

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GPs in England failing to urgently refer patients with ‘red flag’ signs of cancer

GPs are failing to urgently refer patients with “red flag” signs of suspected cancer to a specialist, research suggests.

Six out of 10 patients in England with key symptoms indicating possible cancer did not receive an urgent referral for specialist assessment within two weeks, as recommended in clinical guidelines, according to a new study.

Nearly 4% of these patients were subsequently diagnosed with cancer within the next 12 months. The findings were published in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety.

In the study, researchers analysed records from almost 49,000 patients who consulted their GP with one of the warning signs for cancer that should warrant referral under clinical guidelines. Of the 29,045 patients not referred, 1,047 developed cancer within a year (3.6%).

Early diagnosis and prompt treatment is crucial to survival chances. Every four-week delay in cancer treatment increases the risk of death by 10%.

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Source: The Guardian, 5 October 2021

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GPs in dark over plans to drop care warn move could ‘swamp NHS’

GPs and hospital leaders have been left hanging over plans to drop “non-urgent” care, and warn there’s no way to safely stem demand without impacting patients health or “swamping” the NHS further.

On Monday evening the NHS published guidance for GPs and hospital leaders over expectations to deliver the government’s new deadline for all adults to be offered a booster vaccine by the new year.

The guidance comes as reports surfaced on Tuesday that ministers were warned the NHS should expect a “significant” increase in hospitalisations, as modelling showed Omicron cases may reach 200,000 a day.

NHS England sent letters to all GP practices and Trust chiefs on Monday evening setting out some plans to support the vaccine drive, which included opening community vaccine clinics 12 hours a day every day of the week. However, the guidance was not clear on what work GPs and trusts could specifically drop to support the drive.

Several NHS leaders raised concerns over the “nightmare” of deciding what care can be reduced, in lieu of any detailed guidance from the government or NHS England, with one leader calling for “clear directive”.

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Source: The Independent, 14 December 2021

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GPs giving antidepressants to children against guidelines

GPs are breaching medical guidelines by prescribing antidepressants for children as young as 11 who cannot get other help for their mental health problems, NHS-funded research reveals.

Official guidance says that under-18s should only be given the drugs in conjunction with talking therapies and after being assessed by a psychiatrist.

But family doctors in England are “often” writing prescriptions for antidepressants for that age group even though such youngsters have not yet seen a psychiatrist, according to a report by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the NHS research body.

The report linked the prescriptions to the long wait many young people, some self-harming or suicidal, face before starting treatment with NHS child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Under-18s are prescribed the drugs for anxiety, depression, pain and bedwetting.

The guidance on antidepressants has been issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which advises the NHS on which treatments are effective.

Referencing NICE’s recommendation of a two-step approval process, the NIHR study said “this often” did not happen. “No antidepressants are licensed in the UK for anxiety in children and teenagers under 18 years, except for obsessive compulsive disorder. Yet both specialists [psychiatrists] and GPs prescribe them. Thousands of children and teenagers in the UK are taking antidepressants for depression and anxiety. The numbers continue to rise and many have not seen a specialist.”

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Source: The Guardian, 4 November 2022

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GPs given wearable ‘mood monitoring’ devices in wellbeing drive

Wearable devices will monitor the mood of all 70 staff at a large GP practice, in a trial aimed at improving employee health and wellbeing.

Staff at Amicus Health, a GP practice in Devon, will be provided with a wearable device which allows the user to log how their day is going by pressing one of two buttons.

The information gathered can be viewed by employers on a dashboard, identifying whether there are particular times in the day when moods drop. Users will also be able to see their data on a personal app, allowing them to track mood triggers and patterns.

On the dashboard, employees’ data is divided into teams and is not anonymised, so employers can track the mood of individuals. Asked by HSJ whether this could deter some from using it, company co-founder Jonathan Elvidge said previous trials suggested it does not.

He told HSJ that during trials on construction sites, employers found it easier to take action if they were able to identify workers who were regularly reporting that they were feeling low.

He said employees preferred being identified as it gave them a voice and made it easier to express how they were feeling. 

The device — called a Moodbeam One — will be trialled on all 70 clinical and non-clinical staff members at the practice, including 25 GPs. It will largely be down to the practice to decide how the data is used, according to Mr Elvidge.

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Source: HSJ, 5 November 2020

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GPs given freedom to order heart checks direct

GP practices in England will be able to order a host of checks directly to help speed up the diagnosis of a range of heart and respiratory conditions.

Traditionally GPs refer to specialists when conditions like heart failure and lung problems are suspected.

But the ability to direct refer, which was rolled out for cancer last year, is now being extended.

GPs welcomed the move, but questioned whether there was sufficient testing capacity to cope.

Royal College of GPs chair Prof Kamila Hawthorne said: "Any initiative to accelerate the process by which patients can be diagnosed and begin to receive any necessary treatment should be seen as positive."

She said GPs had "long been calling" for better access to diagnostic tests.

But she added: "For this initiative to be successful, it is vital that diagnostic capacity - both in terms of testing and people to conduct and interpret tests - is sufficient."

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Source: BBC News, 3 August 2023

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GPs facing torrent of abuse and violence as patient frustration boils over

According to reports, GPs and healthcare staff are receiving a torrent of abuse and threats of violence from patients, with some surgeries being sent hate mail, bomb threats and graffiti. This rise in abusive behaviour comes as GP's become overwhelmed with demand, often working many hours overtime with delays being able to get to appointments due to staff shortages. 

Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “It’s entirely unacceptable for anyone working in general practice to be at the receiving end of abuse of any kind, let alone the threat of physical violence. General practice has been open throughout the pandemic, and face-to-face appointments have been offered wherever safe and appropriate.

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Source: The Independent, 23 August 2021

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GPs face unsafe workload and fear neighbourhoods will make it worse, RCGP warns

A total of 73% of GPs say patient safety is compromised by the workload pressure they face, the survey of more than 2,300 GPs found.

Around three in five GPs (58%) reported a lack of time to adequately assess and treat patients during consultations and 57% said they did not have enough time to build relationships with patients that are key to high-quality care, according to findings published ahead of the 2025 RCGP annual conference, in Newport, Wales.

The polling also exposes deep concern over the impact of NHS neighbourhoods, with 68% of respondents voicing fears that there are not enough GPs to deliver the model proposed in the government's 10-year health plan and that it will deepen the workload crisis in general practice.

In her final speech as college chair, Professor Kamila Hawthorne told the conference that she has met GPs across the country who are 'pushing themselves, day after day, to look after their patients in the face of ever-growing demand and an unsustainable lack of capacity'.

She said: 'In our recent survey, 73% of members told us that patient safety is being compromised by workload pressures. Fewer than 30% said they had enough time during consultations to provide high quality patient care. And more than half reported that their own mental health had declined in the last year. It’s hard to find a GP who doesn’t feel they have to cut corners.'

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Source: GP Online, 9 October 2025

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GPs each seeing 15% more patients, BMA says

The average number of patients each individual GP is responsible for has increased by 15%, or around 300 people, since 2015, the BMA has said.

This is due to the ‘slow but steady haemorrhaging’ of GPs over the last few years, which has led to pressures on services growing ‘even more acute’, it suggested.

The Association’s statement comes in response to the latest GP workforce data – published by NHS Digital (10 February) – which showed that 188 FTE GPs left between December 2020 and December 2021.

Dr Farah Jameel, chair of the BMA’s GP committee, said the figures are the direct result of an ‘over-stretched’ and ‘under-resourced’ NHS.

She said: ‘Family doctors, exhausted and disenchanted, feel as though they have no choice but to leave a profession they love because of chronic pressures now made worse by the pandemic. Workload has dramatically increased, there are fewer staff in practices to meet patient needs.’

Insufficient staffing is particularly concerning as the backlog for care continues to grow, she suggested, with many GPs believing ‘the day job is just no longer safe, sustainable or possible anymore’.

The NHS and the Government must work to retain current staff as its ‘immediate priority’ and must urgently refocus on retention strategies as a key enabler for the NHS’ recovery.

She said: ‘The Government has repeatedly argued that the number of doctors is growing, but this isn’t the reality for general practice, and it begs the question: how many more have to go before something is finally done about it? Our NHS is the people who work in it, and without them, the entire system and provision of patient care is under threat.’

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Source: Management in Practice, 11 February 2022

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GPs don’t have time for NHSE ‘modernisation’ work, say ICBs

GP practices with the most outdated technology and processes do not have enough staff or funding to take part in NHS England’s performance recovery programme, integrated care boards are warning.

In new recovery plans which they were required to publish by NHSE, multiple ICBs have said that stretched capacity means hardly any practices have signed up to the “general practice improvement programme”, which is meant to help them implement the national primary care access recovery plan.

The ICBs pointed out that the programme is time consuming, and practices which take part are not always given funding to pay for staff time.

HSJ has reviewed the primary care recovery plans which all ICBs were required to bring to their board meetings in October and November, to explain how they were implementing the national plan published by NHSE in the spring.

NHSE’s plan sought to improve ease and speed of access through spreading “modern” methods and processes; as well as measures to save clinicians’ time, improving same-day access, and delivering more appointments.

But HSJ’s  review of the ICB plans found several warning that their uptake of the improvement plan was off track, especially for “intermediate” and “intensive” support, which require substantial time for the practices, and are likely to be required by those most in need of help.

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Source: HSJ, 12 December 2023

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GPs dispute Javid’s claim lack of appointments is overloading A&Es

Family doctors have reopened their bitter dispute with the government by accusing Sajid Javid of misleading MPs and the public by blaming overloaded A&Es on a lack of GP appointments.

The Royal College of GPs has told the health secretary in a strongly worded letter that there is no basis for the claim, which he made to MPs last week and which was widely covered by the media.

In it Prof Martin Marshall, the college’s chair, said that its 54,000 members “are dismayed and disappointed at the media coverage of your evidence session, which suggested that the lack of face-to-face GP appointments was placing additional strain on accident and emergency departments”.

He disputed Javid’s claim that there is evidence which links the issues.

He wrote: “You told the [health and social care select] committee you had seen data which showed that more patients were presenting at A&E departments because they were unable to access primary care. I am not aware of any evidence to suggest that this is happening and would welcome sight of any data you have.”

Tensions are simmering between GPs and the government since Javid’s edict last month that GPs in England must see any patient who wants an in-person appointment.

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Source: The Guardian, 12 November 2021

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GPs contacting patients about ‘do not resuscitate’ forms

GPs are having end of life conversations with their patients because of concerns over a lack of intensive care beds during the coronavirus crisis.

Multiple GPs have told HSJ they are talking to patients who are older or in very high risk groups about signing “do not attempt to resuscitate” forms in case these patients were to go on to contract the virus.

Some practices have also sent letters to patients requesting they complete the forms, it is understood.

One leader of a primary care network, who asked not to be named, told HSJ: “Those in the severe at-risk group and those over 80 are being told they won’t necessarily be admitted to hospital if they catch coronavirus.”

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Source: HSJ, 1 April 2020

 

 

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GPs capping patient numbers could have ‘catastrophic’ effect on A&E, says NHS chief

Industrial action by GPs could have a “catastrophic” impact on A&E units, the 111 telephone advice service and mental healthcare, a senior NHS leader has told the Guardian.

Family doctors who run GP surgeries across England are about to finish voting on whether to reduce the care they provide – including limiting the number of patients they see to 25 a day – in protest at the previous government increasing their budget by only 1.9% this year.

The ballot of GP partners being run by the British Medical Association (BMA) closes on Monday, with the result known soon afterwards. They are expected to vote in favour of taking industrial action – but not striking – that would start on Thursday.

The outcome of the ballot could pose another headache for Wes Streeting, the health secretary, who is holding talks with junior doctors aimed at resolving their long-running pay dispute during which they have gone on strike 11 times over the past 17 months in pursuit of a 35% rise.

In his first major policy announcement since replacing Victoria Atkins on 5 July, Streeting pledged to increase the share of the NHS budget that goes to general practice.

Referring to the prospect of industrial action by GPs, a source close to Streeting said: “This is just the latest example of the mess left by the Conservatives. We are determined to work with the profession to rebuild general practice, which is critical to making the NHS fit for the future. We will increase the proportion of resources going into primary care over time and help address the issues GPs face.”

There is huge concern across the NHS that GPs capping their patient contacts to 25 a day would cause significant disruption, with family doctors referring more patients than usual to already-overstretched hospitals as another tactic to force NHS England and ministers into a rethink. It could also extend waiting times for diagnostic tests and non-urgent hospital care, NHS chiefs fear.

“If all GPs implemented the patient cap, that could have a catastrophic effect on the entire healthcare system”, said Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation. “General practice is now supporting more patients than before the Covid pandemic, so any reduction in their activity will put more pressure on other services, including A&E.”

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Source: The Guardian, 28 July 2024

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GPs can block abusive patients from automatic records access if they fear harm to staff

GP practices can block abusive patients from gaining automatic access to their records online if they pose a ‘risk of harm’ to staff, the Royal College of General Practice has said.

Automatic access to patients’ prospective patient records is due to be switched on by the end of this month, following delays related to concerns about patient safety.

But the RCGP’s toolkit on access to records said practices can refuse access to online records for patients that pose a risk of harm to others too.

The guidance said access should "be refused where there is a clear risk of serious harm to the safety of the patient or members of the practice team, or to the privacy of a third party".

It added: "If potentially harmful information cannot be successfully redacted and the practice remains concerned about the safety of record access for an individual patient – or in extreme cases, remains concerned that the patient may react violently to information in the record – then the practice may refuse to give the patient record access or restrict the level of access.

"It may be possible to give them access to a reduced part of the record such as the Summary Care Record or restrict access to appointments and repeat prescriptions."

The guidance said that records access should only be refused or restricted "after discussion with the practice leads for GP Online Services and Safeguarding or after seeking further professional advice from a local relevant agency or national medical indemnity organisation".

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Source: Pulse, 18 November 2022

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GPs call for an end to home visits, saying they do not have time

Family doctors are calling for an end to home visits - saying they are too busy to visit the frail and elderly.

The radical proposal, to be put forward at a conference of the British Medical Association, would see the duties removed from the standard contract for GPs. Medics said house calls were too “time consuming” for family doctors, who were overloaded. 

But patients’ groups said the threat to withdraw such services from GPs was “appalling” and would put the vulnerable at risk. 

Doctors will vote later this month on a proposal to remove home visits from the core GP contract, requiring a separate service to be created for those in need of urgent visits. 

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Source: The Telegraph, 11 November 2019

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GPs at 'breaking point' say they must cap appointments - but could it harm patients?

GPs in England have launched a work-to-rule action in a dispute with the government over what they say is a lack of funding. It threatens to bring chaos to the system.

The British Medical Association (BMA) announced the action earlier this month, and surgeries are now taking a variety of steps, with some limiting the number of patients each GP can see to 25 per day. That could reduce the number of available appointments by a third.

But with many patients already finding it difficult to get to see a doctor, there's increasing concern it could put patients at risk.

Dr Tom Gorman says taking part in the work-to-rule is a last resort, but he feels compelled to do it to protect his patients. The 41-year-old has been a GP for eight years and says the system is at “breaking point”. He said, “We can't deliver for our patients. They’re struggling to get appointments. We don't want to take action but we’re being forced to protect our patients and staff.”

As a partner in a practice in Newcastle, Dr Gorman is in charge of deciding what action to take next. That is because GPs are effectively independent businesses – so this is not a strike or campaign of industrial action in the traditional sense.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has suggested GPs can pick-and-choose from a range of options. These include capping the number of patients that are seen each day, not doing tests and check-ups for hospitals, ignoring rationing guidelines which could result in a deluge of referrals for hospital care, and refusing data-sharing requests.

NHS England has warned this work-to-rule action could push more people into seeking help from A&Es as well as having a wider impact on the system, such as delaying discharges from hospital.

And patient watchdog Healthwatch England believes this could ultimately harm patients. “GP access is the most common issue we hear about," says chief executive Louise Ansari. “We’re worried the work-to-rule could make problems worse or even deter people from seeking help altogether. Any delay to care can have a huge impact on people’s physical and mental health.”

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Source: BBC News, 19 August 2024

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