Practices could be shamed by data
GP practices could be named and shamed as league tables are set to show the surgeries offering the least number of appointments.
Data will be published on Thursday setting out how many appointments each practice is delivering and the length of time it takes to be seen.
The Government said the statistics, which will be published on the NHS Digital website, would help patients make “more informed choices” about the practice they choose.
It will help “improve transparency about performance”, officials said.
But leading GPs raised concerns about the data being used to compare practices against each other without accounting for different patient characteristics. For instance, a seaside town with an elderly population may have surgeries which offer fewer appointments than city centre practices catering for a younger population. The move was announced last year but Thursday will mark the first day that patients are able to judge appointment data provided by their local surgery.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “I am determined to make it easier for people to get an appointment with their GP practice when they need one and this will allow patients to make a more informed choice about the care they receive.”
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “We have serious concerns about how the publication of practice-level data will be used to compare practices against each other.”
Earlier this month it was reported that Rishi Sunak’s appointment letter to Mr Barclay dropped the target to recruit 6,000 more GPs in England by the end of 2024.