Think THREE times before seeing a GP!
Treat yourself, see chemist or go online, says leading doctor
THE country’s top GP says patients should take three basic steps before going to see their family doctor.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said too many patients were turning up to surgeries with heartburn and other minor ailments.
Instead they should treat themselves, look up their symptoms online or go to a pharmacist before phoning the GP. The head of the Royal College of GPs said that even if only one in ten patients avoided going to the surgery, it would free up 100,000 appointments a day.
GP services across England are struggling to cope with the pressures of the rising and aging population on top of a recruitment crisis. They are particularly busy at this time of year dealing with the flu and winter vomiting bug.
Prof Stokes-Lampard – who practises in Lichfield, Staffordshire – urged patients to follow a ‘three before GP’ rule of thumb.
‘We’re just asking people to stop and think, when you reach for the phone to book a GP appointment: “Can I do this myself? Do I need some online help? Could a pharmacists help me?” ’
Prof Stokes-Lampard added: ‘ We believe that up to a quarter of appointments could be avoidable or sorted out by another means.
‘Of course for many things you’ll still be phoning the GP and that’s fine – that’s what we’re here for.
‘But if just 10 per cent of people didn’t come and see their GP, but did one of those three things, that would make a huge difference. It would give us the capacity to deal with those who really need our help at a difficult time for the whole NHS.
‘For example, yesterday in surgery people were coming in with indigestion – this is a classic one at this time of year. People eat a bit too much, drink a bit too much, gain a bit of weight in the winter and develop indigestion and heartburn – that’s the sort of thing where a pharmacists could easily signpost them to a range of medications.’ Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: ‘It is not always appropriate to go to a GP. However, the risk is that with general practice under impossible strain, patients who really need to see their doctor do not go.’
Chloe Westley, of the Tax Payers’ Alliance, added: ‘It’s deeply disappointing that the NHS is struggling to provide essential services, while so much money is wasted on non- essential prescriptions and pay for top NHS bureaucrats.’
The Government has promised to hire an extra 5,000 GPs by 2020 but figures last month showed that 1,200 had quit in the previous year. Many doctors are retiring early or moving to Australia and New Zealand for a better life balance.
The Department of Health said: ‘We recognise that GPs are under a lot of pressure. That is why we have committed to an extra 5,000 doctors in general practice by 2020 – supported by investment of an extra £2.4 billion a year by 2020.’
Nine out of every ten hospital beds are occupied, putting patient safety at risk, according to official figures. Labour said last night the health service was ‘sleepwalking into crisis’ as the 90 per cent figure – the highest occupancy rate for seven years – exceeds the socalled ‘safe’ rate of 85 per cent.
Last month, NHS Improvement said hospitals were missing key waiting-time targets and ending up in the red because wards remained so full they cannot admit new patients.
Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said: ‘This shambles cannot continue.’
THE Mail’s Save the Prescription Pill Victims campaign has exposed how a hidden army of hundreds of thousands of patients has become hooked on painkillers and tranquillisers designed to combat depression, anxiety and sleeplessness.
Now we reveal today that this country consumes more of a different type of drug, anti-depressants, than almost any other in the West. So is there any doubt these powerful medicines are being hugely over-prescribed?
Since 2000, the number of doses handed out a day has almost trebled, to more than 94 for every 1,000 people. Not for a minute does the Mail believe this is a necessary response to a genuine national malaise.
Yes, anti-depressants can be a lifeline for some. But far too often they are doled out like sweets, without thought to the risk of harmful side- effects and withdrawal symptoms. Indeed, as Dr Max Pemberton argues on Page 7, GPs often resort to anti-depressants as a ‘quick fix’.
By encouraging more and more people to pop ‘ happy pills’, they risk storing up problems for the NHS in future. The need for action could not be more pressing.