By the way . . . No Mr Hunt, GPs cannot just turn patients away

ALL too often, it feels as if those who govern us have a gift for waking up far too late to the painfully obvious.

Last week, the Health Secretary woke up to the fact — as he has been warned for years — that ten-minute GP appointments are not long enough to deal with the complexities of modern healthcare in an ageing population.

The solution, says Jeremy Hunt, is for GPs to create more time by cutting out one in four appointments and batting the patients off elsewhere, such as pharmacies, or conducting telephone and online consultations (despite the fact these often take even more time and are less safe).

He also advises GPs to reduce time spent on administration. His ears must be plugged with wax — perhaps he’s been unable to get a GP appointment? — as doctors have been crushed in recent years with layers of bureaucracy, including appraisal, revalidation, relicensing, new guidelines and the push for patients to be discharged early from hospital back to care in the community, all on top of the lack of recruitment and retention of staff.

His plans won’t work. Many elements of general practice are about what comes to light when patients with apparently minor problems are seen in consultation — non-verbal communication is a central theme, and what patients do not say it is often as important as what they do.

Patients frequently turn up to an appointment with an apparently simple complaint, only then to reveal a highly personal intimate symptom. Closing the door to those opportunities — a door that has always been open, free and without limitation — would close the door on a core aspect of GP care in the NHS. We can’t just turn patients away.

Failure to understand this confirms Jeremy Hunt has little understanding of the nature of general practice. The major issue contributing to the current crisis lies with a lack of forward thinking and deafness to the clamour of experts and professionals.

So why won’t the powers that be listen to and reflect on what we’ve been saying for years?