GPS are banned from saying ‘call back later’
Doctors’ union considers industrial action after new contract to be imposed on family doctors in England
GPS will no longer be allowed to tell patients to call back later under a new contract starting next month, with practices told instead to ensure the right help is available. The contract is to be imposed on family doctors in England, with its union saying it was now “forced to consider all options” including industrial action.
The changes, issued by NHS England, insist for the first time GP practices must not tell patients to call back later if surgeries are busy, but provide help or point them to the right place.
It follows growing concern about difficulties accessing GP appointments and a rise in health conditions, such as heart attacks and strokes, which might have been prevented with the right care.
On Friday the British Medical Association (BMA) said the contract for the financial year starting next month was likely to be imposed against the union’s wishes after a failure to reach agreement.
Dr Kieran Sharrock, acting chairman of the BMA’S GP committee, said the plans provided “no extra help for practices”, while “lumping more bureaucracy and arbitrary targets on practices that only set them up to fail”.
The union said the BMA’S GP committee for England “would therefore be forced to consider all options, including the potential for industrial or collective action”.
Under the contract, funding will be particularly focused on patient access and experience, plus specific boosts to tackle heart disease, by increasing the take-up of drugs such as statins.
However, there will be some cuts to funding for other indicators, including reviews of patients with dementia and rheumatoid arthritis.
Dr Ursula Montgomery, the NHS director of primary care, said: “GP teams have worked hard to deliver record numbers of appointments with half a million more delivered each week last year compared to pre-pandemic, and this new contract aims to build on this further with more access for patients.
“As well as providing same day care to more than two fifths of patients, GP teams will step up preventive action against heart attacks and strokes over the next year, with health professionals encouraged to prescribe statins alongside other preventative measures such as exercise to a much wider number of patients with heart disease, arterial disease and those who suffered a stroke or who have high levels of cholesterol.”
The contract for the current year was imposed on GPS after the BMA objected to it. The terms introduced last April said every area must have a surgery open on Saturdays offering face-to-face appointments.
In November the NHS began publishing data on every GP surgery in England, showing how long people had to wait for an appointment and the proportion occurring in person.
Dr Sharrock said: “It’s extremely frustrating to see a second GP contract imposition forced on the profession, especially one that does ... nothing to improve what is fast becoming an irreparable situation for practices and their patients.
“This contract is the result of a failure to listen to what GPS need and totally ignores the calls for any extra support to help practices meet the rising costs of keeping their doors open.”