GPs warn of 34m shortfall in appointments
 Professional body's warning comes as Labour says lack of appointments at surgeries is putting A&E units under pressure Patients will fail to get a GP appointment when they are unwell on more than 34m occasions in England this year because funding cuts are affecting services, the Royal College of GPs has warned. The professional body said GP practices are being brought to their knees by an unprecedented fall in money for healthcare in the community and rising demand for their services. Labour haswarned of a crisis in A&E because more patients are flocking to emergency wards, arguing that a key reason for the pressure on hospitals is patients being unable to get appointments at their local surgeries. Dr Maureen Baker, chairman of the Royal College for GPs, said: "GPs and practice nurses can't keep doing more for less and now that funding for general practice in England has slumped to just 8.5% of the NHS budget the service we provide is in crisis. "All three political parties say they want to see more patients being treated in the community, where care can be provided to patients more economically, in their own surroundings, and yet resources are increasingly being diverted away from communities and into hospitals. "By continually diverting resources into hospitals, we have fuelled a real and growing crisis in general practice." Successive governments have promised to make it easier for people to get GP appointments, amid persistent complaints about unavailability in some areas. David Cameron last year said he would like to force surgeries to open from 8am to 8pm and over the weekend to ease pressure on A&E units, a scheme currently being piloted However, Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, blamed growing complaints on the government's decision to scrap a Labour pledge that patients should always get a GP appointment within two working days. "Within days of taking office, David Cameron scrapped Labour's guarantee that all patients should be able to get a GP appointment within two working days," he said. "In December, Labour called on the government to reverse this decision but Tory MPs voted against. It is one of the reasons why A&E departments are now under such pressure. "On David Cameron's watch, it has got harder for people to get GP appointments. Patients call the surgery early in the morning only to be told nothing is available for days. It is unacceptable and ministers must take practical steps to make sure patients can see their GP when they need to." The royal college said it calculated the 34m figure from data in the GP Patient Survey, which found 10% of patients who sought a consultation with a GP or practice nurse failed to get one. Surgeries see patients for around 340m appointments per year. It said almost 11% of the NHS budget was spent on general practice in 2005, compared with 8.5% in 2011 – a cumulative loss of £9.1bn at the same time as 40m additional appointments are being requested. The college estimates that the average number of consultations carried out by each GP in England per year has increased by 1,450 since 2008 from 9,264 to 10,714. However, the Department of Health accused the royal college of using partial and conflated data, confusing the number of people and consultations. "The GP survey showed the vast majority of patients are satisfied with their GP and rated their experience of making an appointment as good," it said. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds |
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