GPS ‘OFFERING GOOD LEVEL OF SERVICE’ AS DEMAND SURGES
Practices praised after rapid rise in face-to-face consultations
LOCAL GP practices delivered nearly 400,000 appointments in a month as demand continued to surge – but there are concerns some are failing to restore face-to-face consultations fast enough.
Practices across Stoke-on-trent and Staffordshire provided 389,828 appointments in September, which was 44,570 more than during the same period in 2019, before the pandemic.
The figure includes both face-toface and remote consultations, with physical appointments currently accounting for 62 per cent of the total.
Members of the governing body of Staffordshire’s clinical commissioning groups (CCGS) were told the county had recently seen the fastest increase in face-to-face appointments in the country, with most practices providing ‘very good access’.
But Lynn Millar, executive director of primary care, told the meeting that some practices were lagging behind, offering fewer than one in five patients a physical consultation.
She said the CCGS were working with practices to improve access, as part of a wider piece of work aimed at tackling the post-lockdown surge in demand for primary care.
Ms Millar said: “The vast majority of practices are providing very good access despite the situation, but we do know that there are some examples of poor practices as well. Some of these practices didn’t have great access before the pandemic, and it’s certainly evident now.
“So while we are providing 62 per cent face-to-face appointments, some will be at 100 per cent, some will have a blended model, but some practices are low – under 20 per cent. We are working with these practices on an individual basis.
“But I would say the vast majority of the 146 of practices across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-trent are doing their absolute best and offering a good level of service.”
Ms Millar said practices are having to deal with a ‘pent-up demand’ for services following the pandemic and an ‘eye-watering’ amount of phone calls, at a time when infection control measures are still limiting capacity within practices.
The difficulty in booking appointments has been one of the factors behind a recent increase in abuse aimed at primary care staff by patients – an issue that the CCGS have addressed by releasing a video of workers detailing their own experiences.
Steps taken to tackle the surge in demand have included additional training for receptionists, digital solutions and the recruitment of other healthcare professionals, such as clinical pharmacists and first contact physiotherapists, to help relieve pressure on GPS.
Dr Asif Ahmed, clinical lead at Stafford and Surrounds CCG, believes there needs to be more done to let patients know that they do not always need a face-to-face appointment with a GP.
He said: “Sometimes people still just want to see a GP. That’s the bit that’s really difficult to tackle. It’s almost as though everybody feels their problem needs a GP.
“I know nationally there are targets for GP face-to-face appointments. But GPS look at complex medical problems – when you have other healthcare professionals, it tends to be less complex.
“And the complex issues that GP deal with often don’t require a faceto-face appointment.
“Is there anything we can do locally to get the public to understand that GPS tend to deal with things that don’t necessarily need that physical interaction? Can we raise the profile of these other professionals in the system?”