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News ArticleAppointment reminders, invitations to health screenings and test results will now be received by patients on their phones. The government says moving to a more digital-focused NHS will mean 50 million fewer letters need to be sent out by the health service, saving an estimated £200m over the next three years. Instead, under the new plans, millions of people will be notified about appointments and other important notices via the NHS app on their phone or digital device. The app is set to become the go-to method for the NHS to communicate with people, the Department of Health and Social Care said. The changes will be backed by more than £50m investment. It will see a predicted 270 million messages sent through the app this year, an increase of around 70 million on the last financial year, the government announced. The health secretary said: "The fact that people still get letters through the front door, sometimes multiple letters about the same appointment... The NHS has been stuck in the mud when it comes to the everyday technology we use to organise our lives. And that's why what we're doing with the NHS app is really exciting." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 7 June 2025
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News Article
Digital triage system ‘making it easier to contact GPs’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Replacing GP receptionists with a “digital triage” system has made it easier for patients to see their family doctors, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The NHS said that 99% of GP surgeries in England had now adopted an e-consultation system, meaning patients fill out an online form as their first point of contact. After detailing symptoms, they receive a call or message back that day, offering a face-to-face appointment, a phone consultation, or directing patients elsewhere, such as to a pharmacy. It means people are spared the hassle of having to call up their GP reception in an “8am scramble” for appointments, and NHS leaders reported that access had improved over the past year. New ONS figures show that 72% of people said it was easy or very easy to contact their GP, up from 60 per cent in July 2024. However, access to GP appointments is still significantly below pre-pandemic levels, with surgeries struggling to cope with increased demand. There were 29.3 million GP appointments in April 2025 — a rise of almost five million on the same period pre-pandemic. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 2 June 2025 -
Content ArticleA Brighton GP surgery is under threat despite providing excellent services and strong links to the local community. This decision flies in the face of the proven 'social value' being delivered and potentially puts patients at risk. The reasons are presented in this excellent article which exposes the continued 'race to the bottom' due to an apparently unnecessary tendering exercise, a decision made behind closed doors and a failure to consult. Quote from Polly Toynbee's article in the Guardian: "Here’s the puzzle. Andrew Lansley’s calamitous system that opened the NHS to “any willing provider” to compete for contracts was supposedly swept away in 2022, replaced with ICBs that strove for cooperation across all NHS and social services in England. Yet some ICBs still apply the old competitive impulse to NHS services, even though they now have an obligation to ensure that tenders help to reduce inequalities."
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News Article
Ten-year plan will ‘end one size fits all primary care’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
“One size fits all” primary care is outdated and will be replaced with services targeted at the needs of different patient groups, rather than “what is convenient to organisations or individual sectors”, the national GP director has said. Speaking about emerging proposals in the Ten-Year Health Plan and neighbourhood health, Claire Fuller said: “What we’re doing is putting patients’ needs back at the heart of the NHS, trying to make sure care is centred around patients’ needs rather than what is convenient to organisations or individual sectors. “There is a starting principle that basically says, at different times in peoples’ lives, they have different needs… [If] you think about your children’s needs and how they’d want to access care, [that] would be very different to our parents’ needs. And as professionals we will feel much safer dealing with some people remotely or asynchronously via an email exchange than other people. “We’ve moved away from the 1948 [model] and have realised now that not one size fits all… The good news is that at the heart of that is a universal primary care offer [and] an increased primary care offer.” It comes amid rumours the government’s reform plan will propose greater segmentation of primary care, including general practice. This could include creating variable service offers, access and pathways for different groups. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 May 2025 -
Content Article
In this blog, Siân Slade shares how, through her research interest into the difficulties of navigating the healthcare system in Australia, she created a policy and advocacy project: #NavigatingHealth. The aims of the project are to streamline the silos and address the fragmentation of healthcare by bringing together all those who are developing solutions to enable patients and carers to better navigate healthcare journeys. Background About 10 years ago, I listened to a friend’s experience navigating cancer and puzzled over the challenges encountered. These made me question my prior assumption of 'patient-centricity' across healthcare. In 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a report highlighting the complexities of the Australian healthcare system. This led me to realise that while we do have patient-centred care, it is often provider dependent, not system-wide, and relies on the patient (or carer) to navigate the system; a time when individuals are at their most vulnerable. Given 'the standard you accept is the standard you walk past”, I decided to do 'my bit' to address this. I enrolled in a Master of Public Health, researching healthcare navigation in Australia. I found there was a fragmented approach to try and address an already fragmented problem. This led me to embark on a PhD as well as develop a policy and advocacy platform: #NavigatingHealth. Setting up a national network and community of practice My focus has always been on a practical approach that solves problems for individuals but also seeks to understand how to scale these at a systems level to sustain change in the long-term. If this was a known problem, why was nothing being done to address it? Surely this was something government were addressing... or there must be an app? I spoke to lots of people—patients, carers, speakers at conferences, those who had written books of their healthcare experience and, yes, those developing apps. Everyone agreed it was a problem, but nothing was addressing the totality of the problem. The problem was not just in navigating healthcare, but also the challenges navigating related systems, such as those for people with disabilities, or for aged care, as well as social services and education. #NavigatingHealth started life as two, 60-minute webinars held in mid and late September 2021, supported by the Australian Disease Management Association. The inaugural webinar speakers provided vignettes across a life journey—from childhood through to getting older—based on their own lived-experiences as patients, carers or professionals (not-for-profit, health services and government). The positive reception of the webinars led to setting up a bimonthly national network and community of practice in Australia that ran until the end of 2024. The meetings were deliberately not recorded to build a safe space for people to share ideas, build tacit (word of mouth) knowledge and a like-minded solutions focused community. Summaries of all the events and speakers are available on the #NavigatingHealth project page. In health, information and projects evolve. Building an online community was low-cost and accessible to everyone. The success of the Australian approach led to a series of global webinars using the same format of expertise provision from individuals in research, policy, and advocacy and health services. The first global webinar was held in 2022 attracting over 20 countries. Connecting and collaborating The 'glocal' community continues to grow. Projects are constantly evolving, elevating and expanding as well as exiting often impacted by funding constraints. In the spirit of a complex adaptive learning health system, core to our success is the community knowledge built through relationships, trust, like-values and non-linear interactions. Taking an approach that is resourceful versus one requiring constant resourcing (we use accessible tools such as LinkedIn and more recently Bluesky) to provide an effective, free platform to keep individuals in touch with one another. Our dedicated #NavigatingHealth project page on the Nossal Institute for Global Health website at the University of Melbourne acts as a central hub for events and resources. The genesis during the pandemic and expansion virtually through Teams and Zoom, as well as in-person post-pandemic, has enabled different ways to expand the national community, the global network and we welcome all-comers. The project is voluntary and our success is based on linking people, developing relationships, sharing expertise, maintaining momentum and the opportunity we all have to impact into #NavigatingHealth. The annual forums, 2024 #NavigatingHealth Simplifying Complexity and 2025 #NavigatingHealth Enabling Patients, System-Wide, focused on bringing together colleagues nationally in Australia. The in-person workshops created the opportunity to build community, share ideas, leverage learnings and also provide educational content. These collaborations have allowed development of materials for curriculum and teaching, and an evolving conversation about the importance of systems-thinking. We developed a short global project collecting stories from individuals who are happy to be involved. Our video, NavigatingHealth - why this matters, provides a glimpse of our approach. Looking forward The Future of Health Report published in 2018 highlights that our health systems, locally and globally, will change from 'one size fits all' to one that is personalised. The challenge is how? Future of Health Report, CSIRO 2018. The 'secret sauce' is that by working collaboratively we can all be part of evolving and effecting systems change. The work is underpinned by equity and a focus on enabling early access to care, addressing barriers, such as financial or cultural constraints, and helping to make visible information asymmetries and power imbalances to ensure effective collaboration and co-production. Building on the success of our past forums, planning for 2026 is underway. Block out 1 April 2026 in your calendar for the inaugural #NavigatingHealth Day! Our collective expertise is our power—let’s do this! Want to know more? Please get in touch with Siân at [email protected] or via LinkedIn. Further reading on the hub: The challenges of navigating the healthcare system How the Patients Association helpline can help you navigate your care Lost in the system? NHS referrals -
News Article
GPs split over assisted dying plans, BBC research suggests
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Family doctors in England are deeply divided on the issue of assisted dying, BBC research on plans to legalise the practice suggests. The findings give a unique insight into how strongly many GPs feel about the proposed new law - and highlight how personal beliefs and experiences are shaping doctors' views on the issue. BBC News sent more than 5,000 GPs a questionnaire asking whether they agreed with changing the law to allow assisted dying for certain terminally ill people in England and Wales. More than 1,000 GPs replied, with about 500 telling us they were against an assisted dying law and about 400 saying they were in favour. Some of the 500 GPs who told us they were against the law change called the bill "appalling", "highly dangerous", and "cruel". "We are doctors, not murderers," one said. Of the 400 who said they supported assisted dying, some described the bill as "long overdue" and "a basic human right". It comes as MPs will this week again debate proposed changes to the controversial bill, with a vote in parliament expected on whether to pass or block it next month. If assisted dying does become legal in England and Wales, it would be a historic change for society. Read full story Source: BBC News, 14 May 2025 -
News Article
Tech is helping GPs and clinicians see more patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
New figures from the NHS reveal that 31.4 million GP appointments were delivered in March 2025, a 6.1% increase on the same period last year and nearly 20% more than before the pandemic. This increase, the NHS claims, is due to GP practices adopting digital services to help meet growing demand while ensuring patients are directed to the right care more efficiently. Starting in October, all GP surgeries will be required to offer online appointment requests throughout working hours as part of a new contract, which aims to ease phone line pressure and allow smarter triaging based on medical need. Currently, 99% of GP practices in England have already upgraded their phone systems, expanding capacity and reducing long waits for patients. Professor Bola Owolabi, NHS England’s director of healthcare inequalities, said in a statement: “GP teams are delivering over 30 million appointments a month, up nearly 20% on pre-pandemic levels. Patients can also manage repeat prescriptions and view test results through the NHS App, making care more convenient.” The NHS has also announced that AI is enabling GPs and clinicians to cut the time spent on admin and increase the time and effort expended on patients. Data from AI trials shows an increase in patients seen by A&E, shorter appointments and more time by clinicians spent with the patient. Read full story Source: UK Authority, 30 April 2025 -
News Article
Mental health sidelined in key waiting list policy
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Only two mental health trusts are known to be using the advice and guidance (A&G) system, and it should be used “much more broadly” in the sector, Rebecca Gray told HSJ. A&G was introduced under the last government, but the current administration is pressing for a big expansion this year, introducing payments to GP practices each time they use it from this month. Ms Gray, who joined Confed earlier this year from the Maudsley Charity, said it was a good policy but so far was mainly focused on physical health, and she wanted to work with the network’s trust members to expand it. Mental health is largely not covered by the main referral-to-treatment waiting list, nor the government’s headline target to reduce RTT waits to less than 18 weeks. Data on MH waits is poor, but it suggests tens of thousands of children and adults are waiting longer than two years. Ms Gray said: ”Mental health services can and should play a crucial role in these kinds of initiatives. We know that mental ill health is placing a huge demand on GPs and their teams. This can not only be difficult for services to manage but frustrating for patients, who can often be left facing long waits to get the support they need if their condition is not best managed in primary care.” She said GPs should be incentivised to “reach out to specialist mental health teams to support people more quickly [which] could help tackle these issues before they get worse”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 22 April 2025 -
News Article
Patient satisfaction with GP services in England has collapsed, research finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients’ satisfaction with GP services has collapsed in recent years as family doctors have switched to providing far fewer face-to-face appointments, new research has revealed. The proportion of patients seeing a GP in person has plummeted from more than four-fifths (80.7%) in 2019 to just under two-thirds (66.2%) last year. Telephone appointments have almost doubled over the same period from 13.4% to 25.4%. Those undertaken by video or online, including some in which patients fill in an online form but have no direct interaction with a GP, have risen almost eightfold from 0.6% to 4.6%. The Institute for Government (IFG) thinktank also found patients valued face-to-face appointments so highly that they regarded them as more important than their GP surgery offering more appointments overall by maximising the number provided remotely. They are more satisfied with practices that offer more in-person sessions, and less satisfied with those relying more on telephone and remote consultations, even though those free GPs up to see more patients. The dramatic shift in how family doctors interact with patients has coincided with a huge fall in public satisfaction with GP services. “Patient satisfaction is higher in practices that deliver more of their appointments face to face,” according to an IFG report tracking the performance of England’s 6,200 GP surgeries since 2019. Surgeries that offer the most remote appointments have experienced the biggest falls in satisfaction, the IFG analysis shows. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 April 2025 -
Content ArticleThis report on public service performance at the local level, shows that patient satisfaction is higher in GP practices that have more GPs (particularly GP partners), have smaller list sizes, deliver more GP appointments and do more of those appointments face-to-face. Additional direct patient care staff – such as physiotherapists, pharmacists and care co-ordinators – are not associated with higher satisfaction. Despite that, all those trends are heading in the opposite direction: the number of GP partners continues to fall, particularly among those aged under 40. GP practices do far more appointments remotely than they did before the pandemic. The closure and merging of practices means that patient list sizes continue to creep up. In addition, the addition of almost 40,000 direct patient care staff since 2019 does not seem to have improved satisfaction. The report argues that the government needs to urgently address the crisis in the GP partner workforce, aim to improve the conversion rate from GP traineeship into the GP workforce, understand how to use the expanded direct patient care workforce most effectively, and better communicate how its reform programme will improve patients' experience of general practice.
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News Article
ICBs told to get tighter grip on GP referrals
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Integrated care boards have been told to significantly strengthen the drive to ensure that potential GP referrals are first scrutinised by hospital consultants. The approach, known as “advice and guidance”, involves GPs discussing cases with specialist consultants. The discussions can lead to the patient being triaged to alternative services or the GP continuing to be responsible for their management, rather than being placed on a waiting list to see a consultant. The use of A&G to reduce referrals is a key plank of NHS England’s plan to deal with the elective care backlog. NHSE’s elective reform plan pledged to drive up A&G requests by GPs to 4 million in 2025-26, nearly double the amount seen in 2023-24. NHSE forecasts this would deliver 2 million “diversions” – cases where a referral is avoided. For the first time, GPs will be paid £20 each time they use the model, and the government has announced that an £80m pot has been allocated to fund the policy. But new guidance published by NHS England warns local systems must deliver a “higher degree of rigour and standardisation” in their A&G services. It also sounds the alarm about the “considerable variation” in A&G models operating in different areas. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 17 April 2025 -
Content ArticleThe government priority is to return to the 18-week referral to treatment (RTT) standard through reforming elective care by March 2029. In support of this, NHS England has published a plan for reforming elective care for patients, setting out 4 key priority areas. Care in the right place is one of the 4 areas, which includes Advice and Guidance (A&G) services and clinical triage of referrals. Advice and Guidance aims to ensure patients receive optimal care, as quickly as possible, in the most appropriate care setting while upholding patients’ rights to choice. The Enhanced Service Specification sets out the requirements for payment of pre- referral Advice and Guidance requests. There is considerable variation in how Advice and Guidance is applied, delivered and monitored. It is important to manage patient demand, so a higher degree of rigour and standardisation is needed. This framework has been created as a tool to support ICBs to ensure Advice and Guidance is implemented effectively. This approach will enable them to embed Advice and Guidance in their leadership, culture, operational processes and build on existing good practice in line with NHS IMPACT. The framework has been co-produced, including input from a focus group of NHS colleagues from regions, ICBs, primary care and secondary care providers.
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News Article
ICB seeks first GP and dentist integration
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An integrated care board in the East of England is working to integrate general practice and dental care records, and exploring shared sites for the two primary care services. Suffolk and North East Essex ICB is exploring how to “bring primary care services together”, according to recent board papers. Ed Garratt, its chief executive, said dental practices first began to collaborate through the ICB’s dental priority access and stabilisation scheme, which saw them offer 15,000 urgent appointments. “We’re now thinking about how to create networks of dental practices that could work together with our general practice networks,” he told HSJ. He added that the ICB was also pursuing integrating the summary care record – a patient record held by GPs – so it could be shared with dentists. Mr Garratt said having GPs and dentists working at the same hub sites was likely to be “the ultimate end stage” for this work. He said the moves were designed to improve communication and holistic care across dental and other health. “Often, dentists and GPs might share the same patient, but they would never communicate about that patient. So you can have more holistic care potentially if people were working closer together,” he said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 10 April 2025 Further reading on the hub: The challenges of navigating the healthcare system -
News Article
Patient satisfaction with NHS has hit record low of 21%, survey finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Public satisfaction with the NHS is at a record low and dissatisfaction is at its highest, with the deepest discontent about A&E, GP and dental care. Just 21% of adults in Britain are satisfied with how the health service runs, down from 24% a year before, while 59% are dissatisfied, up from 52%, the latest annual survey of patients found. Satisfaction has fallen dramatically from the 70% recorded in 2010, the year the last Labour government left office, and the 60% found in 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic. Mark Dayan, a policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust thinktank, which analysed the data alongside the King’s Fund, said the years since 2019 have seen “a startling collapse in NHS satisfaction. “It is by far the most dramatic loss of confidence in how the NHS runs that we have seen in 40 years of this survey.” A&E is the NHS service the public is least happy about. Satisfaction fell from 31% in 2023 to just 19% last year – the lowest proportion in the 41 years the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey of the views of patients in England, Scotland and Wales has been carried out. Satisfaction with NHS dentistry has collapsed, too, from 60% as recently as 2019 to just 20% last year. More people (55%) are dissatisfied with dental care than with any other service. Similarly, fewer than a third (31%) of adults are satisfied with GP services. “The latest results lay bare the extent of the problems faced by the NHS and the size of the challenge for the government”, said Dan Wellings, a senior fellow at the King’s Fund. “For too many people, the NHS has become too difficult to access. How can you be satisfied with a service you can’t get into?” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 April 2025 -
Content ArticleThe Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund join forces each year to analyse and present findings from the gold-standard survey of public attitudes and opinions towards the NHS and social care, as surveyed by NatCen. The 2024 survey results show that the British public are deeply unhappy with the way the NHS runs – just 1 in 5 people said they were satisfied. Key findings Satisfaction with the NHS In 2024, just one in five British adults (21%) were ‘very’ or ‘quite’ satisfied with the way in which the NHS runs. This is the lowest level of satisfaction recorded since the survey began in 1983 and shows a steep decline of 39 percentage points since 2019. Only 2% of respondents were ‘very’ satisfied with the NHS, down from 4% in 2023. The percentage of people who were ‘very’ or ‘quite’ dissatisfied with the NHS rose to 59% in 2024, from 52% in 2023. This represents a statistically significant 7-percentage-point increase from the year before, which already had the highest dissatisfaction seen in 40 years of the British Social Attitudes survey. A higher proportion of people in Wales (72%) were dissatisfied with the NHS compared to the survey average and compared to people in England (59%). Supporters of the Reform party were less likely to be satisfied (13%) than the survey average and this was significant after controlling for other variables like age and income. There is a divide between generations, with satisfaction lower and falling in younger age groups. While the proportion of people who were satisfied rose slightly for those aged 65 and over, from 25% to 27%, among those under 65 it fell significantly, from 24% to 19%. Satisfaction with social care In 2024, only 13% of respondents said they were ‘very’ or ‘quite’ satisfied with social care (the same figure as 2023). 53% of respondents were ‘very’ or ‘quite’ dissatisfied. Respondents in Wales (69%) were again significantly more likely to be dissatisfied than the survey average. Satisfaction with different NHS services Public satisfaction with A&E services has fallen sharply, from 31% to just 19%, and dissatisfaction has risen from 37% to 52%. These are the worst figures on record by a large margin and make A&E the service with lowest satisfaction levels for the first time. Satisfaction with NHS dentistry has continued to collapse. As recently as 2019 this was at 60%, but it has now fallen to a record low of 20%. Dissatisfaction levels (55%) are the highest for any specific NHS service asked about. Satisfaction with GP services continued to fall, mirroring the trend over the last few years. 31% of respondents said they were satisfied with GP services, compared with 34% in 2023. Inpatient and outpatient hospital care is the part of the NHS with the highest levels of satisfaction, with 32% saying they were satisfied and only 28% dissatisfied. Attitudes to standards of care, staffing and efficiency The majority of the public (51%) said they were satisfied with the quality of NHS care. People aged 65 and over were more likely to be satisfied (68%) with the quality of NHS care than those under 65 (47%). Dissatisfaction with waiting times and the ability to get an appointment is widespread, and is consistent across respondents from all ages and UK countries: 62% of all respondents were dissatisfied with the time it takes to get a GP appointment. 23% were satisfied. 65% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the length of time it takes to get hospital care. 14% said they were satisfied. Dissatisfaction levels are highest regarding the length of time it takes to be seen in A&E. 69% of respondents said they were dissatisfied, while just 12% said they were satisfied. Only 11% agreed that ‘there are enough staff in the NHS these days’. 72% disagreed. NHS funding, principles and priorities 8% of respondents said that the government spent too much or far too much money on the NHS; 21% said that it spent about the right amount, and 69% said that it spent too little or far too little. When asked about government choices on tax and spending on the NHS, the public would narrowly choose increasing taxes and raising NHS spend (46%) over keeping them the same (41%). Only 8% would prefer tax reductions and lower NHS spending. Only 14% of respondents agreed that ‘the NHS spends the money it has efficiently’. 51% disagreed with this statement. Respondents felt the most important priorities for the NHS should be making it easier to get a GP appointment (51%) and improving A&E waiting times (49%), with increases in staff (48%) and better hospital waiting times close behind (also 48%). A&E has now slightly overtaken staffing as a priority, reflecting the sharp fall in satisfaction described above. People under 65 were more likely to prioritise improving mental health services (34%) than those aged 65 and over (21%). As in previous years, a strong majority of respondents agreed that the founding principles of the NHS should ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ apply in 2024: that the NHS should be free of charge when you need to use it (90%); the NHS should primarily be funded through taxes (80%); and the NHS should be available to everyone (77%). The percentage of people saying that the NHS should ‘definitely’ be available to everyone decreased from 67% in 2023 to 56% in 2024. This is the only statistically significant change year-on-year across all three principles. Supporters of the Reform party (20%) were significantly less likely to say that the NHS should ‘definitely’ be available to everyone than the survey average.
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Content ArticleSince 2022, general practice has shifted from responding to the challenges of Covid-19 to restoring full services using a hybrid of remote, digital and in-person care. This BJGP study aimed to examine how quality domains are addressed in contemporary UK general practice. The authors found that: quality efforts in UK general practice occur in the context of combined impacts of financial austerity, loss of resilience, increasingly complex patterns of illness and need, a diverse and fragmented workforce, material and digital infrastructure that is unfit for purpose and physically distant and asynchronous ways of working. providing the human elements of traditional general practice, such as relationship-based care, compassion and support, is difficult and sometimes even impossible. systems designed to increase efficiency have introduced new forms of inefficiency and have compromised other quality domains such as accessibility, patient-centredness, and equity. long-term condition management varies in quality. measures to mitigate digital exclusion such as digital navigators are welcome but do not compensate for extremes of structural disadvantage. many staff are stressed and demoralised.
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Content ArticleA comprehensive infographic with expert information from Dr Charles Shepherd (Honorary Medical Adviser to the ME Association) to help primary healthcare professionals with diagnosing ME/CFS. It contains vital information regarding suspecting ME/CFS, diagnosis, differential diagnoses, key symptoms, investigations, and information relating to NHS specialist referrals.
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News Article
Mental health charities struggling to cope with GP-referral influx
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Mental health charities in England are struggling to cope with the number of sick patients referred to them by GPs, with under-qualified professionals increasingly tasked with treating the seriously ill. Experts told the Guardian that some desperate GPs were “signposting” patients to services not always equipped to deal with them. These are provided by unregulated charities, which employ practitioners who are not always transparent about their qualifications or level of competence. Some charities reported struggling to cope with demand, with their staff, who do not need the specific qualifications required by the NHS, finding themselves tasked with helping the sickest patients. “The issue is that people are desperate,” said Jaime Craig, who will be appointed chair of the Association of Clinical Psychologists in May. “There’s very limited access to services, and so people go to the GP and they say: ‘Well, I’ve had a flyer from this person who’s offering counselling, why don’t you try them?’ “To be fair to GPs, sometimes their local areas don’t have an awful lot to offer in terms of mental health support and they are struggling with the amount of people coming in for psychological or counselling support. “But there’s a big problem because the patient can’t know whether what is being suggested on a leaflet or a website is OK unless someone does some vetting.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 March 2025 -
Content ArticleWhen you go to see a doctor, it can be difficult to communicate your health concerns clearly, out of fear, embarrassment or a misunderstanding of medical jargon. How can you make the most of these appointments? From taking notes to bringing along a friend, and when to request a second opinion, doctors share their advice on how to access the best possible care.
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News Article
GP contract strips out key cancer and mental health targets
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Targets designed to improve mental health and cancer outcomes in primary care have been removed from the new GP contract agreed between the profession and government. The 2025-26 general medical services contract sees core funding increased by £889m. GP leaders accepted the deal in principle following two months of intense negotiations. However, the deal is contingent on the government confirming in writing by the middle of next month that it will negotiate a completely new contract within the current parliamentary term. The contract’s Quality and Outcomes Framework, which seeks to incentivise GPs to provide care in priority areas, has been radically reformed. 32 indicators which carried a total value of £298m have been removed. £198m of the total will be ”redistributed proportionately across nine CVD prevention indicators”. The remaining £101m will be reinvested into the global contract sum and in paying GPs to carry out routine childhood vaccinations instead. Gone from the contract is the requirement for practices to hold dedicated registers of patients with cancer, chronic kidney disease, dementia, diabetes, learning disabilities, schizophrenia, asthma and COPD, as well as those receiving patient palliative care. The contract requires practices to keep accurate patient records, but no longer maintain dedicated registries. Other abolished targets include tracking cancer care reviews, and the review of patients with depression and schizophrenia. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 February 2025 -
Content ArticleThe government and NHS England are determined to improve people’s access to, and experience of, GP services. The consultation on changes to the GP contract for 2025/26 has now concluded. The changes to the GP Contract for 2025/26 mark a major step forward in the government’s mission to shift care into the community, to focus on prevention and to move from analogue to digital. The changes also provide greater freedom to GPs by cutting red tape and empowering patients by improving digital access to practices.
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Content ArticleIn this blog, Sarah Clark, Research Communications Manager at THIS Institute, looks at the ongoing challenge of trying to improve access to GP services for patients. She reflects on analysis by THIS Institute and the Health Foundation which identified what we called a “zombie solution”—where some options are revisited time and time again even though they never seem to make a real difference for patients. She looks at the issue and how to move beyond this pattern.
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News Article
GPs strike deal to help end '8am scramble' for appointments
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients will be able to book more appointments online and request to see their usual doctor under a new contract agreed with England's GPs, the government has said. The deal gives an extra £889m a year to general practices, as well as a reduction in red tape and targets that ministers hope will mean doctors are freed up to see more patients. The Labour government made manifesto promises to bring back "family" doctors and end the early morning phone "scramble" for appointments. The doctors' union, the BMA, says the deal is an important first step in restoring general practices. However, doctors also want the government to commit to talks about a completely new national contract for GPs within this Parliament. GP surgeries are seen as the front door to the NHS, but for years now, doctors have been warning about the pressure their service is under. Patients have felt it too, with some people facing long waits for appointments. Now it is hoped extra money agreed in the new contract for GP surgeries will kick-start improvements. Read full story Source: BBC News, 28 February 2025 -
Content Article
Navigating the healthcare system as a university student: My personal experience
Anonymous posted an article in By patients and public
Moving away from home and starting university has been a transformative experience. As an 18-year-old studying law and international relations, I’ve enjoyed the new found independence and academic challenges. However, persistent health issues have complicated my transition, leading to a frustrating journey through the healthcare system. My health struggles Since starting university, I’ve dealt with multiple colds and flu-like symptoms, some may call it ‘freshers flu’. A productive cough that lingered for over a month concerned me, but the situation took a serious turn when I started feeling dizzy and breathless with minimal exertion. Realising the severity of my condition, I knew I needed medical help. Seeking help: a series of missteps 1. Pharmacy visit My first stop was the local pharmacy. After describing my symptoms, the pharmacist suspected iron deficiency and recommended iron tablets. While this seemed plausible, my condition continued to worsen, prompting a call to my parents. 2. Exploring options: walk-in GP and NHS 111 My parents suggested visiting a walk-in GP, but I discovered none were available in my area. I then called NHS 111, hoping for guidance. They advised going to Accident and Emergency (A&E) but also mentioned they would request a GP call-back. Given the NHS’s known pressures, I was hesitant to visit A&E for what I didn’t consider an emergency. 3. Urgent treatment centre attempt My mum then suggested my local hospital’s urgent treatment centre. I mustered my energy to go there, only to be informed that I needed a GP appointment. They again suggested A&E. 4. Finally, A&E Feeling increasingly unwell, I headed to A&E. Although it felt like I was going in circles, this decision was crucial. At A&E, I was redirected to the urgent treatment centre where I finally saw an excellent doctor. I was seen quickly, diagnosed and given medication that soon began to help. A few days later, I received a message from NHS 111 stating that my request for a GP call-back had dropped off the system due to the delay. This entire experience has been eye-opening and frustrating. As a young and intelligent individual, I found navigating the healthcare system challenging. I can only imagine how overwhelming it must be for older adults, those with additional needs or those less familiar with the process. Lessons learned Navigating healthcare while dealing with a serious condition can be daunting. Here are some key takeaways from my experience that may help other university students or young adults who have moved away from home for the first time: Register with a local GP early As soon as you arrive at university, register with a local GP. It’s crucial to have access to medical care, especially when living away from home for the first time. Understand your options Familiarise yourself with the local healthcare facilities, including urgent treatment centres, walk-in clinics and A&E. Knowing where to go in different situations can save valuable time and stress. Persist and advocate for yourself Don’t be afraid to seek second opinions or alternative solutions if your initial attempts to get help are unsuccessful. Be persistent in advocating for your health needs. Stay informed about healthcare systems Understanding how the healthcare system works, including the pressures it faces, can help you make informed decisions about when and where to seek care. Moving forward Despite the hurdles, my health is now improving thanks to the excellent care I eventually received. This experience has taught me the importance of being proactive about my health and understanding the healthcare system. As I continue my university journey, I’ll be better prepared to navigate any future health challenges. If you’re a student facing similar issues, remember that you’re not alone. Reach out to university health services, friends and family for support. And most importantly, take your health seriously—it’s the foundation upon which all other successes are built. Reflections from my mother My mother, who is a healthcare professional working in the NHS, has had her own set of frustrations and concerns for me throughout this ordeal. She shares her own reflections on my experience: Frustration and helplessness Despite my extensive knowledge of the healthcare system, I felt powerless to help my child navigate the healthcare system from miles away. It was frustrating to be unable to fix the situation quickly and efficiently. Worry and concern Being far from home, I was naturally worried about my son’s health. The distance amplified my anxiety, knowing that they were dealing with worsening symptoms without immediate access to care. Concern for others I am also deeply concerned for other students and individuals who might be in similar situations but are not as vocal or persistent. How do they cope and navigate the system, especially those without a strong support network? Emotional impact This experience left me feeling upset and distressed. As a healthcare professional, I am acutely aware of the pressures on the NHS and the potential for patients to fall through the cracks. Seeing my own son’s struggle highlighted these issues in a very personal way. Are you a student or a young adult who has moved away from home for the first time? How easy have you found it accessing healthcare. We would love to hear your stories. Please comment below (you will need to register with the hub, it's free and easy to sign up), share your story in our community forum, or email us at [email protected]. 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Content ArticleThe growing pressure of workload and staff shortages – and the decline in patient satisfaction in primary care in the UK – is a topic that’s generating a lot of discussion in healthcare. Host Kristina Wanyonyi-Kay and guests Patrick Burch, Georgia Black, and Sean Manzi discuss: How might increasing access to NHS care and changing how pathways are navigated impact a patient’s experiences of the healthcare system? The power of multidisciplinary teams in tackling complex problems by defining the right pathway How does a busy GP make a judgment call when they’re balancing the pressures of time, capacity, and urgent patient needs? What is the system level approach, and what trade-offs have to be made?
