Defiant GPs hit out at new policy measures
ALEADING Plymouth GP says the Government’s ‘fixation’ with increasing face-to-face appointments has ignored the real problem of a shortage of doctors.
Dr Mark Sanford-Wood said doctors were astonished at the Government’s focus on in-person meetings with patients.
The GP said the £250 million package of measures announced by Health Secretary Sajid Javid was “nowhere near enough” and was “likely to make things worse”.
Mr Javid said the money would be available for surgeries to employ extra temporary staff, including locum GPs. He also announced league tables for practices rated on the number of face-to-face appointments.
Dr Sanford-Wood said the Government’s policy appeared “confused and muddled” after GPs were encouraged to use technology to increase efficiency, including more remote consultations.
The GP, who is a partner at Church View Surgery in Plymstock, said plans for a league table would be a “bully’s charter” which would “name and shame” practices.
Dr Sanford Wood, who is deputy chair of the England general practitioners committee of the British Medical Association (BMA), was responding to a survey which showed nine out of ten GPs opposed the measures in the Government’s winter plan for primary care.
Meanwhile, the head of NHS England has told MPs there is no “set number” for how many face-to-face appointments GPs should provide.
Amanda Pritchard told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that many patients liked face-to-face appointments, but that others found phoning a GP or going online more convenient.
Figures show 58% of patients were seen face-to-face in August – the first full month following the ending of pandemic restrictions – compared with 54% in January and more than 80% before the pandemic.
Dr Sanford-Wood said: “The basic problem that we have is that there are just not enough GPs. This really unhelpful preoccupation over the last few weeks, particularly in some corners of the press and media, with face-to-face consultations appears to have driven Government policy.”
Dr Sanford-Wood added: “They have taken a Daily Mail editorial and turned it into health policy. The vast majority of GPs are just utterly astonished that a Secretary of State for
Health can be so ill-informed about what the basic problem is. We know we have a problem with the supply of GPs, we are looking at that every day.”
Dr Sanford-Wood said general practice had lost around 2,000 doctors since 2015, instead of an increase of 6,000 promised by the Government, so across the country there was a shortage of 8,000. Plymouth has faced a problem with recruiting enough GPs for a number of years.
Dr Sanford-Wood said the Government now had a “fixation” with face-to-face appointments, although GPs had been encouraged to introduce the technology to see patients remotely.
Doctors can deal with two patients by phone in the time it takes to see one in the surgery, because of the ongoing hygiene needs due to the pandemic, but anyone who needs to be seen in person can still come into the surgery.
Dr Sanford-Wood said: “There was a big push to embrace technology, and now we are being condemned for it. Government policy is completely confused and muddled, and it looks as if they haven’t a clue what they’re doing.”
He described the plan for league tables for face-to-face appointments as a “bully’s charter” used to “name and shame” practices.
The GP added: “I think it is really sad that any government in this country would reach this point in its relationship with a profession that really is trying to do its best, has been there throughout the pandemic, and has delivered 70% of the vaccination programme.”
The Health Secretary’s announcement of what was described as a “rescue package” came as NHS figures showed A&E departments had their busiest September ever.
One in four patients waited more than four hours for treatment, and so-called ‘trolley waits’ for an emergency hospital bed soared.
The number of patients waiting to see a hospital consultant in England reached 5.7 million in August, the highest number since records began in 2007.
The BMA said nine out of ten GPs who responded to a survey about the Government package “say it is an unacceptable response to the current crisis.”
The Health Secretary’s announcement was criticised by Dr Sarah Wollaston, the former Conservative MP for Totnes, who lost the seat after switching to the Liberal Democrats.
The former chair of the House of Commons health and social care select committee, who is now back working in the NHS, said many GP practices were short-staffed. She warned that the Government plans could drive away health workers and add to the pressure in the poorest areas.
Almost 3,500 GPs in England took part in the snap poll for the BMA, after the Health Secretary published details of the package which he said was to improve access to GPs, cited as one of the reasons for growing pressures on A&E departments.
A statement from the BMA said the response to its survey “is the clearest articulation yet that front-line GPs working across the country do not believe the plan will go any way to addressing the pressures facing general practice, staff and patients”.
It added: “The BMA is warning that the impact of such a damaging move from the Government on staffing levels could be disastrous.” It said the latest figures show England has lost around 1,800 full-time equivalent, fully-qualified GPs since 2015, despite the Government promising 6,000 more.
A separate survey of more than 6,000 GPs in England in the week before the announcement found that more than half said they would consider leaving the NHS if the Government did not provide them with the support they needed.
Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee England chair, said: “This shows the profession has out and out rejected this shambles of a plan from the Government and NHS England.
“If the Health Secretary thinks it is enough to provide a lifeline to surgeries this winter, let alone save general practice in the long term, this response shows how wrong he is,” he continued.
“The BMA provided the Health Secretary with a clear plan to help address the crisis in the short term, that could improve patient access and guarantee safe, high quality care, while also putting forward longer-term solutions.
“He chose to ignore that and instead we have a shambolic plan that has failed before it has begun,” Dr Vautrey added.
“These survey results show how angry and despondent GPs are. The profession clearly sees the Government’s name-and-shame approach as a bully’s charter, which will intensify existing problems.
“Patient care will suffer because imposing these measures could very well result in doctors having to spend even more time on paperwork and administration – but it may also result in GPs leaving the profession altogether.
“We have already lost the equivalent of more than 1,800 full-time, fully qualified, GPs in the last six years, and, with a majority of family doctors now saying they could be forced to reduce their hours or leave the NHS altogether because of a lack of support, the situation could get far, far worse. This will be on the Health Secretary’s watch. He will be to blame.”
Recommending the plan, Mr Javid said: “I’m determined to ensure patients can see their GP in the way they want, no matter where they live.
“Our new plan provides general practice teams with investment and targeted support.
“This will tackle underperformance, taking pressure off staff so they can spend more time with patients and increase the number of face-to-face appointments.”
Mr Javid said the new GP rescue package would help relieve pressure on the whole health system.
‘The profession has out and out rejected this shambles of a plan from the Government’ DR RICHARD VAUTREY