GPS threaten to go on strike over proposals to increase face-to-face appointments
GENERAL practitioners will be balloted about taking industrial action over the Government’s plan to boost the number of patients seen face-to-face.
Last week, ministers announced a £250 million fund to help GP practices improve patient access. Under the NHS Plan for GPS and Patients, practices were told they must “respect preferences” for in-person appointments and should use the money to extend opening hours or offer walk-in consultations.
Surgeries were warned they would be named and shamed if they failed to deliver.
However, the British Medical Association’s GP committee last night voted to reject the plan and said members would now be balloted on industrial action. This would see GPS refuse to comply with specific contractual requirements to publish their earnings and oversee the Covid vaccination exemption process.
In addition, the BMA is encouraging doctors not to engage with other aspects of the plan, such as providing information for league tables.
Before the pandemic, about 80 per cent of consultations took place in a doctor’s surgery. However, the figure was just 57 per cent last month.
Dr Richard Vautrey, chairman of the BMA’S GP committee, said: “GPS have been left with no alternative but to take this action. The Government has completely ignored our requests for a reduction in bureaucracy to allow us to focus more on patient care, and we are therefore encouraging doctors to withdraw from this bureaucracy themselves.”
Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: “This shows the Government’s deliberately provocative plans to name and shame GPS have backfired. Sajid Javid must now dial down the rhetoric and get round the table with doctors and patient groups to find a way forward. It would be unforgivable if, as we enter a winter crisis, people are unable to access their local GP.”
The row comes as a report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) warned the current system of health and social care is “not working” for staff, nor those who depend on it. The watchdog raised concerns that care
homes are on the brink of collapse, with staff abandoning jobs in favour of work in pubs and restaurants.
The CQC warned that more than half of Accident & Emergency departments are not good enough, with 53 per cent classed as inadequate or requiring improvement.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “GPS have done phenomenal work done through the most difficult 18 months in memory. We want patients to be able to see their GP promptly and in the way they choose. Our plan will improve access and drive up face to face appointments.” n Boris Johnson should ensure his £12billion investment in the service is accompanied by reforms, Alan Milburn told today’s Chopper’s Politics podcast.
Mr Milburn, Labour health secretary from 1999 to 2002 when Tony Blair announced a £12 billion a year increase in health spending, said waiting times still kept going up and productivity fell until the party “introduced foundation trusts ... got the private sector into the NHS to work alongside the public sector [and] gave more choice to patients”.