Safety fears as GPs are forced to see up to 70 patients a day
FAMILY doctors are carrying out up to 70 consultations a day – nearly three times the safe level, a major study has found.
GPs have an average of 41.6 patient contacts a day, including face-to-face consultations and those done over the phone or via the internet.
But a fifth of doctors have more than 50 consultations a day – and some have in excess of 70.
By comparison, EU officials have recommended that GPs should conduct no more than 25 consultations a day.
Family doctors say their workload is ‘unsafe’ because it is making them more prone to mistakes, which could harm patients.
Many are quitting or taking early retirement, which means the remaining doctors end up with even more patients, while a recruitment crisis means those leaving are not being replaced.
In Scotland, many GPs have abandoned their clinics, saying they cannot cope, sparking an unprecedented crisis in patient care with thousands facing long delays for routine appointments.
The latest figures come from a Pulse magazine survey which asked 899 GPs across the UK how many patient contacts they carried out on a typical day. A total of 21 per cent carried out 50 or more – including 4 per cent who do 70 or more.
GP surgeries are under increasing pressure from the aging population, migration and patients being prescribed more medication, which requires follow-ups.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘This survey backs up what the college has been saying for years. Many GPs regularly work way beyond what could be considered safe for patients, and potentially jeopardising our own health.
‘GPs expect to be busy... but the workload at the moment is relentless and taking its toll.
‘It is not necessarily the number of consultations we are making on a daily basis, it’s the content... patients are increasingly presenting with more complex, chronic conditions, many of which require much longer than the standard tenminute consultation.
Dr Richard Vautrey, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said: ‘Unmanageable and unsafe workload is the primary reason behind doctors leaving general practice, which is leading to serious issues including
‘Suffering from burnout’
practices closing to new patients and other surgeries closing entirely. This workload pressure also means GPs are increasingly suffering from burnout and patients are being put at risk of unsafe care.’
The European Union of General Practitioners recommends having no more than 25 patient contacts a day. Vice-president Dr Mary McCarthy said doctors in other countries offered 30-minute appointments
The Scottish Daily Mail revealed last year how GPs in Highland, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Edinburgh and Livingston had abandoned their clinics, saying they could not cope.
One group of GPs blamed an ‘impossible’ funding situation, while another surgery closed as it could not recruit enough staff.
The GPs handed over their clinics to NHS boards, with bosses desperately seeking replacement doctors.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: ‘If accepted by doctors, the new GP contract will cut workloads and ensure GPs can spend more time with patients with undiagnosed illness.
‘We aim to increase the number of GPs by at least 800 over the next ten years and make general practice an even more attractive career prospect for doctors.’
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