The petition of residents of the United Kingdom,
Declares that more support is needed for doctors’ surgeries so that it is easier for people to get a GP appointment when they need it; further that GP staff are working incredibly hard to meet the needs of patients, but the Government needs to do more to ensure that patient needs are met; further that 4.5 million people are going to Accident and Emergency departments in hospitals a year because they cannot access a GP appointment.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to consider the concerns of the petitions and take immediate action to ensure that access to GP appointments is improved.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Fleur Anderson, Official Report, 20 March 2024; Vol. 747, c. 1014.]
[P002937]
Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Dame Andrea Leadsom):
We know that timely care is important to patients. That is why we published our delivery plan for recovering access to primary care in May 2023. Our commitment in publishing this plan is to make it easier and quicker for the public to get the help they need from primary care.
To achieve this, we are implementing various strategies, including helping patients take more control of their healthcare by transitioning to a modern general practice access model. This includes supporting practices in adopting cloud-based telephony systems, which will help practices match their capacity with patient demand, thereby improving access for patients. This plan is backed by £240 million of retargeted funding to provide these digital tools, telephony and training.
We are building additional capacity by diversifying the workforce to include a wider range of practitioners for patients to see, helping free up GP time for more complex cases. This includes an additional 36,523 direct patient care staff, such as pharmacy technicians and physician assistants, since 2019. Additionally, we are securing a pipeline of future GPs by increasing the number of GP training places available. In 2022, a record 4,032 doctors accepted a place on GP training.
A major part of the access challenge is the rise in workload, particularly for experienced GPs, which risks them being overloaded and having less time available for patients. That is why the plan sets out four ways in which we will cut bureaucracy to reduce workload and free up more time for practice teams to meet the clinical needs of their patients. In particular, we are asking integrated care boards to:
1. Streamline referrals to secondary care instead of sending patients back to GPs, reducing delays in treatment.
2. Discharge patients with all the information they need, avoiding premature return to GP practices where often this information has not been communicated to them.
3. Ensure NHS trusts directly contact patients for follow-up, eliminating the need for GP engagement.
4. Establish clear communication channels between GPs and secondary care to address issues promptly and prevent delays in patient care.
We know that implementing changes in general practice will take time, training and support. That is why, from April 2023, the new national general practice improvement programme is supporting general practice to deliver change, with hands-on help from a choice of improvement modules that will be tailored to individual practice needs.
We have also expanded community pharmacy, with the introduction of Pharmacy First, underpinned by £645 million in new funding across 2023-24 and 2024-2025. This has enabled community pharmacists to manage seven common conditions, including the supply of prescription-only medicines, without a prescription from a GP. The proposals have the potential to release 10 million GP appointments.
These strategies have helped us achieve our manifesto commitment of delivering 50 million more general practice appointments per year: in January 2024, there had been an estimated 367.7 million booked across the last 12 months.