Patients must be able to see GP in person, says Prime Minister

PATIENTS are entitled to see a GP in person, the Prime Minister has said, amid mounting concern about access to face-to-face care.

Boris Johnson said people should be able to have “the security and confidence that they will be treated in person by a GP who can have proper hands-on understanding of the problem they have got”.

Mr Johnson said that without such reassurance, he was “absolutely certain” deadly symptoms could be missed.

The intervention last night came after the head of Britain’s GPS rejected calls for all patients to be allowed such rights. Before the pandemic, about 80 per cent of consultations took place in a doctor’s surgery – but last month the figure was just 57 per cent.

Patients’ groups and campaigners have said many vulnerable people have been unable to access care, with coroners linking a string of deaths to remote appointments.

On Tuesday, Prof Martin Marshall, the head of the Royal College of GPS, told the Commons health and social care committee that he did not expect a return to the previous levels of face-toface appointments, describing the current split as “about right”.

Asked about the comments, the Prime Minister said last night: “People should see their GPS in person if that’s what they need.

“Some people will be happy with other contact or reassurance but a lot of people will need a face-to-face appointment and all the reassurance that gives. I want to see GPS seeing the right people at the right time and the right place.

“We are pledged to deliver another 50million GP appointments. People need the security and confidence that they will be treated in person by a GP who can have proper hands-on understanding of the problem they have got. That is only reasonable.

“People are entitled to that reassurance. I am absolutely certain that unless we can deliver that, there will be people sadly whose symptoms are not picked up and who will suffer as a result.”

In May, health officials promised to end a system of “total triage” introduced during the pandemic, which meant patients had to undergo appointments by telephone or video first, saying all patients had the right to choose to see a doctor in person. But Prof Marshall told MPS there was no point making such promises when GPS did not have the capacity to meet them.

‘Some will be happy with other contact or reassurance but a lot of people will need a face-to-face appointment’