GP surgery online service target is set to be missed
A GOAL for the majority of GP practices to offer online repeat prescriptions and appointment booking is likely to be missed, new figures suggest.
Research by the think tank Reform Scotland shows just four health boards have so far met the standard of at least 90 per cent of surgeries offering the services by the end of 2017.
Only a quarter of NHS Highland practices offer online appointments booking and/or repeat prescribing, with the proportion 45 per cent in Ayrshire and Arran and 50 per cent in Shetland.
The figures, obtained from the Scottish Government through Freedom of Information legislation, are despite the 90 per cent benchmark set out in the Government’s eHealth Strategy.
Reform Scotland highlighted that while most patients positively rate their care and treatment at GP surgeries, four of the five most negatively answered questions on GPs in the 2015/16 Health and Care Experience Sur- vey related to access issues. As the majority of GP surgeries operate as private sector contractors to the NHS, it is up to each individual practice whether or not they introduce online services. The think tank has called for NHS boards to allow new GP surgeries to open up alongside existing practices to stimulate competition and give patients more choice.
“There is no reason for the state to protect GP practices, which are private businesses, from competition and this would increase choice and diversity as well as making practices more responsive to the needs of patients,” it said.
Reform Scotland also wants improvements to NHS Scotland’s Inform website.
Research director Alison Payne said: “If we can choose where to get our eyes tested then we should be able to apply the same flexibility to choose our doctor.
“By giving people greater choice this will give them much greater influence over the way GP surgery services are developed.”