Cut GP appointments from 60 a day to 25, BMA urges
DOCTORS should see no more than 25 patients a day and extend appointment times to 15 minutes, leaders have said.
Patients are currently allocated 10 minutes, meaning some overworked GPs can be seeing up to 60 in one day.
The British Medical Association wants the changes to stop practices being “run into the ground”.
The BMA’s Brian Balmer said staff shortages and limited budgets meant practices were struggling to cope. He added: “An ageing population with complicated, multiple health needs cannot be properly treated within the current 10-minute consultation.” He said appointment times needed to increase to 15 minutes, with the Government providing its promised funding to make it work. He said: “Many GPs are forced to truncate care into an inadequate time frame and deliver an unsafe number of consultations.”