The new health secretary unveils plans to boost access – but doctors say they will have little impact.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe government is promising to improve access to GPs, including same-day appointments for those that need them, as part of a new plan in England.
Health Secretary Thérèse Coffey will make the pledge as she unveils her NHS plan for this winter and next.
GPs will be able to take on extra staff, including senior nurses, while pharmacists will be asked to take on more work to free up appointments.
But GP leaders said the announcement would have a “minimal impact”.
It comes amid declining satisfaction with access to GPs.
The most recent GP survey showed just over half of patients rated their experience as good.
Ms Coffey is due to announce the plan, which will also cover hospital services, in the House of Commons, on Thursday.
She is expected to say: “I will put a laser-like focus on the needs of patients, making their priorities my priorities and being a champion for them on issues that affect them most.”
‘I had to go to A&E for my cancer diagnosis’
Earlier this year, father-of-two Gareth Dixon, 40, from Warrington, who had been suffering chest pain, gave up trying to book a face-to face appointment with his GP and went instead to an accident-and-emergency (A&E) unit.
After a 15-hour wait, he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia.
He says he is now receiving “superb care”, but adds: “It was such as struggle – I had to push and push to be seen.”
Key to improving access will be the recruitment of extra staff.
And having struggled to recruit GPs in recent years, the government is instead changing the funding rules to allow practices to take on more senior nurses and GP assistants, the equivalent of health-care assistants in hospitals.
Until now, much of the extra money available to general practice for new staff has had to be spent on non-nurse staff such as physiotherapists and pharmacists.
Pharmacists are also being given more powers to dispense medications, such as contraception, as well as taking on referrals from A&E for minor illnesses such as coughs and headaches.
Ministers hope these measures will free up about three million appointments a year – 1% of the total.
Our Plan for Patients will also detail the support the hospital system will receive for ambulances and A&E as well as to tackle the backlog in routine treatments.
Prof Martin Marshall, of the Royal College of GPs, said the announcement on GPs did not amount to a proper plan and would have a “minimal impact”, accusing ministers of “lumbering a struggling service with more expectations” without the means to achieve them.
“GPs share patients’ frustrations when we cannot deliver the care we want to deliver in a timely way,” he said.
“But we are caring for an increasing number of patients, with increasingly complex health needs and carrying out more consultations with fewer qualified, full-time GPs.”
Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “The Conservatives have failed to provide the doctors and nurses needed to treat patients on time – and patients are paying the price in record long waiting times.
“Unless the government bring forward a plan for the NHS staffing crisis , they don’t have a plan for the NHS.”