GPs warn three-week waiting list will become norm
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- Published: Monday, 05 June 2017 07:46
- Written by News Editor
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Patients will have to wait weeks for GP appointments even if a Conservative government fulfils a promise of thousands more doctors, an analysis in Pulse suggests. Waiting times will “rocket” without drastic measures to cut the numbers visiting a doctor, three-week waits will become the norm unless doctors put in more hours of overtime every week, the findings suggest.
A survey of 830 doctors by the GP magazine Pulse suggests that average waits for an appointment are now 13 days, up from ten days two years ago. Analysis by the magazine says rising population figures and increasing demand for appointments means that even if the doctors are found they will not be enough to keep up with demand.
The Office for National Statistics predicts that there will be almost three million more people in England by the end of the next parliament and if these trends continue without extra doctors, the average GP will need to spend 28.3 hours directly with patients to keep waiting times steady, up from 22.9 now. Even with 5,000 more doctors, GPs would need to work 25.3 hours a week if waits are not to become longer. The figures do not include time on administration or appointment overruns.
Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GPs’ committee, said: “Unless the government takes decisive action, waits to see a GP will rocket to several weeks in the coming years as patient demand continues to rise and will seriously compromise patient care. The government needs to urgently stem inappropriate demands on general practice.” He continued: “Practices simply cannot offer enough appointments to patients to meet the growing need. The NHS is at breaking point and we need politicians of all parties to avoid ducking the serious challenges.”
Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said family doctors were handling 60 million more appointments than five years ago and could not do more without risking patient safety through burnout. “Hard-pressed GPs around the country are already running on empty so these predictions are really concerning,” she said. “We simply cannot do any more without a significant injection of investment in general practice.”
Waiting times survey results
How long is the average waiting time for non-urgent appointments at your practice?
Less than a week: 23%
1-2 weeks: 34%
2-3 weeks: 25%
3-4 weeks: 8%
4-5 weeks: 1%
More than 5 weeks: 1%
Don’t know: 6%
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