GPs: THE NEW FACE-TO-FACE REVOLUTION

■ League tables to shame doctors who won’t see patients ■ £250m to help GPs – but ‘hit squads’ for those that fail ■ Sajid, Boris and new NHS boss credit Mail for scheme

SAJID Javid last night launched a revolution in GP access designed to ensure all patients can see a doctor face to face.

Family doctors will be offered an extra £250 million to improve patient access – but will be named and shamed in new league tables if they fail to deliver.

The nine-point plan is a major victory for the Daily Mail’s Let’s See GPs Face to Face campaign.

Health Secretary Mr Javid, Boris Johnson and new NHS chief Amanda Pritchard all paid tribute to the Mail for highlighting the devastating decline in the number of patients able to see their doctor in person.

Under the new proposals,

patients will be given the right to demand a face-to-face appointment with their family doctor. GPs will be told they should refuse a plea to have an in-person consultation only if there are good clinical reasons.

The NHS England ‘Plan for GPs and Patients’ will give practices £250million of extra cash to take on more staff, ensuring patients can have an appointment on the day they request one. This could include extending opening hours.

But they will not be able to access the extra money if too many of their consultations are carried out over the telephone or online.

New ‘transparency’ rules will also publish data on the level of service offered by

The Mail’s campaign on this issue has shown the importance of everyone having the choice and ability to see their GP face to face – and this plan will mean more appointments at more surgeries.

We’re supporting our GPs to do what they do best, providing the right care to those who need it.

Together with the NHS, we will cut bureaucracy so more time can be spent directly with patients. BORIS JOHNSON

LAST NIGHT

individual GP practices, including the level of access for patients seeking face-toface appointments.

Whitehall sources acknowledged the data would allow the creation of local and national league tables, with the worst performers named and shamed in the media.

GP practices which fail to improve access for patients will face direct intervention from teams of NHS trouble-shooters.

To help doctors improve their service, red tape will be slashed to give GPs more time to see patients in person – and telephone systems will be upgraded to make it easier to book an appointment.

Meanwhile, pharmacists will get enhanced powers to treat a wide range of minor complaints to ease the pressure. The Department of Health will reduce administrative burdens on GPs by reforming who can provide medical evidence and certificates such as fit notes and DVLA checks – freeing up time for more appointments.

And officials will today confirm that GP surgeries can scrap the two-metre social distancing rule imposed during the pandemic, which has dramatically reduced numbers in waiting rooms.

However, last night there were signs the plans would spark a row with doctors’ unions and some frontline GPs.

Dr Richard Vautrey, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP Committee, said the proposals would make appointments harder to book and the Government was ‘out of touch’. He said it was disappointing to see there was ‘no end in sight to the preoccupation with face-to-face appointments’ – and demanded an end to ‘target-driven, payment-by-results’.

Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said there was ‘nothing here to address the long-standing workforce pressures facing general practice’.

But he cautiously welcomed plans to slash bureaucracy. ‘GPs go into medicine to care for patients, yet they spend a significant amount of their time on box-ticking and filling forms,’ he said.

‘This bureaucracy has an impact on workload in general practice, which has become increasingly “undoable” and is leading to many GPs, and other members of the

team, burning out or leaving the profession.’ Last night the Prime Minister praised the Mail for highlighting the collapse in face-to-face appointments over the past two years.

Mr Johnson said: ‘The Mail’s campaign on this issue has shown the importance of everyone having the choice and ability to see their GP face-to-face, and this plan will mean more appointments at more surgeries.’

Writing for the Mail, Mr Javid said he was determined to get the NHS ‘closer to pre-pandemic levels of faceto-face appointments’.

Mrs Pritchard thanked the Mail for acting as ‘a strong voice for patients’, adding that there would also be a new effort to tackle abuse against GPs.

The nine-point plan came as a youGov poll found that two-thirds of people prefer a face-to-face appointment.