Opening surgeries longer ‘will not curb traffic’ at A&E

BOOKING doctors’ appointments online results in a reduction of A&E hospital visits and would be better than extending surgery opening hours, a study suggests.

Researchers at Imperial College London found no overall link between surgery opening hours and the number of A&E visits in England.

Their findings suggest that the Government’s proposals to extend doctors’ surgery hours are unlikely to ease the burden on A&E departments.

The study compared patients’ experiences of GP surgeries with the number of A&E visits over three years from 2011 and measured patient satisfaction. They found this had no impact on A&E visit rates and suggested that although weekend and evening appointments were convenient for working-age adults, those who needed medical attention were the elderly or chronically ill who did not work full time.

Senior author Professor Azeem Majeed said: “The Government must find alternative ways to handle current pressures on A&E departments. This could include, for example, improving access to GP appointments during normal opening hours rather than spending scarce NHS resources on extended opening schemes.”

Dr Thomas Cowling, the lead author, said: “It makes sense to think that extending GP hours will ease the burden on NHS services, but our study suggests this might not be the case with A&E.”

The study was published in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety.