GPS to go on shame list over access

‘Gridlock’ across NHS services linked to patients unable to book appointments

GPS FAILING to see patients face-toface will be named and shamed for the first time, amid concern that poor access to family doctors is fuelling a growing A&E crisis.

The health service will today publish data on every GP surgery in England, showing how long people have to wait for an appointment, and the proportion of them which happen in person.

There is massive variation between practices, with today’s data expected to reveal the surgeries where the majority of appointments are carried out remotely. Across the country, around two thirds of appointments now take place in person, compared with eight in 10 before the pandemic started.

It comes as hospitals are under unprecedented pressure, and today health chiefs will also launch a national campaign urging the public to avoid A&E as much as possible this winter. The NHS campaign will ask people to use NHS 111 online as their first port of call.

Health chiefs said A&E departments have never been under so much strain with a record 2.17million attendances last month.

Regulators warned in October that health services have become “gridlocked”, with struggles to access GP care “exacerbating the high pressure on urgent and emergency care services”.

Ministers have pledged to improve access to GPS, saying everyone should be able to get an appointment within two weeks. However, one in five patients is currently waiting longer, while one in 10 faces a wait of more than three weeks.

Ahead of the release of the GP data, Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, said the transparency drive would help patients to make a more informed choice, adding that he was “determined” to make it easier for people to get an appointment.

He said: “We promised to prioritise patients and improve access and that is exactly what we have done – and this is just the start. I am determined to make it easier for people to get an appointment at their GP practice when they need one, and this will allow patients to make a more informed choice about the care they receive.”

But GP leaders criticised the move, saying that the data would create arbitrary “league tables” that did not account for the pressures on practices that appeared to be performing worse.

Since the first lockdown, practices have introduced systems of telephone triage, with many patients – especially the elderly – complaining that they struggle to get to see a doctor in person.

More than one in 10 patients who could not get a GP appointment ends up at A&E, the Care Quality Commission warned last month. The public will today be told that while A&E and 999 should still be used for emergencies, the NHS 111 website is the best place for advice in other cases.

Health chiefs said many patients trying to get help from casualty units would be better off if they could get help elsewhere, saying two in every five A&E attendances are avoidable.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: “Last month, our hard-working staff contended with another record month of A&E attendances and the most serious ambulance call-outs, which is only the tip of the iceberg of the growing pressures that the NHS is facing this winter.”

Sir Stephen said problems were exacerbated by difficulties discharging patients into social care, as well as the

threat of a “twindemic” of Covid and flu. However he stressed that it was “vital” that those facing emergencies continue to call 999 and use A&E.

Separate data shows record pressures on ambulance services. Figures for October show almost 15,000 patients stuck in ambulances outside hospital for at least three hours.

The statistics from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) show that almost one quarter of ambulance capacity is being lost to delays.

The organisation estimates 44,000 patients were put at risk of harm in October because of waits they endured.

Martin Flaherty, AACE managing director, said the unprecedented delays were “crippling” the service, and putting patients in danger.

Prof Kamila Hawthorne, chairman of the Royal College of GPS, said family doctors had “serious concerns” about attempts to compare practices, saying practices served different populations.

“We worry that this data will be used to create arbitrary ‘league tables’ that don’t account for different patient demographics and ways of working,” she said.