GP’s who are failing to see patients in person are to be named and shamed, starting today. This morning, the NHS will publish a list of every GP surgery in England showing how long people wait for appointments and the percentage that occur in person.
According to The Telegraph:
There is massive variation between practices, and the data is expected to reveal the surgeries where the majority of appointments are “remote”.
Across the country, roughly two-thirds of appointments take place in person, compared with eight in 10 before the pandemic.
The news comes as hospitals are under unprecedented pressure, with health chiefs set to launch a national campaign urging the public to avoid A&E as much as possible this winter.
The drive will urge people to turn to the NHS 111 website as their first port of call.
Health chiefs said that A&E departments have never before been under so much strain, with a record 2.17 million attendances last month. Regulators warned that health services became “gridlocked”, with struggles to access GP care “exacerbating the high pressure on urgent and emergency care services”.
Ministers have pledged to improve access to GPs, saying that everyone should be able to get an appointment within two weeks.
However, one in five patients are currently waiting longer and one in 10 faces a wait in excess of three weeks.
Ahead of the GP data being released, Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, said that the transparency drive would help patients make a more informed choice.
He said: “We promised to prioritise patients and improve access, and that is exactly what we have done. This is just the start.
“I am determined to make it easier for people to get an appointment with their GP practice when they need one and this will allow patients to make a more informed choice about the care they receive.”
However, GP leaders criticised the move, saying the data would create arbitrary “league tables” that do not account for the pressures on practices which appeared to be performing the worst.
