£600k plan to add an extra 20,000 GP appointments

PATIENTS will have access to up to 20,000 more GP appointments this winter to help steer them away from using over-stretched A&E services.

The £600,000 plan is due to kick into action next month and will see additional slots available across Stoke-ontrent, Newcastle and the Moorlands.

It will include early morning, evening and weekend sessions, with patients either going to individual GP practices or central points in local areas. In some cases, they could be seen by advanced nurse practitioners and pharmacists instead of GPS.

The scheme – funded by Stoke-on-trent and North Staffordshire’s clinical commissioning groups (CCGS) – will cover a fivemonth period and is aimed at easing the pressure on Royal Stoke University Hospital.

Health campaigners today welcomed the move, but described it as a ‘sticking plaster’ solution as it wouldn’t address long-term capacity problems facing the healthcare system.

Ian Syme, below, from Milton , said: “Is this enough to stem the rising wave of people going to A&E? I doubt it. It’s a short-term fix.

“It needs a few years of planning and needs skilled people within the community. What we don’t want to see is an increase in the already massive workloads of GPS.”

An NHS survey of 8,365 North Staffordshire patients over the last year found 399 turned up at A&E simply because their GP surgery was closed.

Additional GP appointments have already been created through the Government’s ‘extended access’ scheme, which began this month.

This latest announcement comes on top of that and means a further 909 primary care appointments will be up for grabs every week.

Doctors hope it will improve continuity of care for patients with long-term conditions and the frail and elderly. It will also enable people to have more choice of the place, time and day when they can book an appointment.

The plans were outlined in a report to the North Staffordshire and Stoke-ontrent CCGS’ primary care commissioning committee.

Andy Day, co-ordinator of the North Staffordshire Pensioners’ Convention, said: “It sounds like a step forward and we do welcome it. If they are going to move away from institutionalised care, more resources have to be put in to communities. GPS are an important part of that.

“But they seem to be reacting to events, rather than having a coordinated strategy.”