DAUK’s GP committee continues to raise concerns about changes to online access at GP surgeries.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting says the moves will ‘end the 8am scramble’ for appointments.
But Dr Steve Taylor, GP co-lead for the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) warned they could have unintended consequences for patients and practices.
He said: “On the face of it, from a patient perspective, it sounds like a good idea. But personally, it looks like a really bad idea.”
Online access
During the pandemic, his practice trialled unlimited online access across core hours. Instead of easing pressure, it led to overwhelming demand.
He said: “We just got inundated with increasing numbers of requests often some people repeating requests… so asking one question, then later on asking something else, and asking another. It became a problem.”
Top-down approach
Dr Taylor said the changes felt like ‘an imposed top-down approach’. They showed Mr Streeting hadn’t engaged with frontline concerns, he said.
Dr Taylor highlighted that general practice has already delivered 8 million more appointments this year, four times the annual number of A&E attendances, but without additional resources.
Less funding
“It’s not shifting care from hospitals to the community, it’s asking community to do more with less funding.”
Read Dr Taylor’s interview with doctors.net.uk in full. It follows his appearance on Sky News to discuss the issue.
DAUK committee members are all volunteers and speak to the media about issues facing frontline doctors in their own time. Please support our work by joining DAUK or donating to our GoFundMe.
