DAUK has today welcomed Jess’s Rule, a new safety initiative which urges GPs to ‘think again’ if they see a patient three times and cannot identify a diagnosis.
But Dr Steve Taylor, DAUK GP co-lead, told national radio listeners the crisis in general practice undermined continuity of care.
He said the shortage of GPs added to the safety issues for patients that Jess’s rule aimed to end.
The rule is named after Jessica Brady, who died aged 27 of cancer in December 2020. Jessica had contacted her GP on more than 20 occasions after starting to feel unwell earlier that year.
Jess’s Rule
Dr Taylor, who trained GPs for 30 years, was speaking about the new rule on the Nick Ferrari Breakfast Show on LBC.
He said: “As a father of three daughters in their twenties, this case is tragic and frankly should never have happened.
“I’m horrified that this young woman was turned away so often.
“It’s a stark reminder to all of us in medicine that serious illness can strike young people.
“If a patient comes back again and again, we must stop and ask ourselves: what are we missing?”
Continuity of care
Dr Taylor stressed that the shortage of GPs and a lack of continuity of care was an issue that needed to be addressed, alongside the introduction of the new rule.
“One problem is we’ve gone from 1,800 patients per GP to 2,300 patients per GP in the last ten years,” he said.
“There just aren’t enough GPs and continuity of care and the opportunity to see a patient again is eroded.
“The proportion of face-to-face consultations aren’t as high.
Face to face consultations
“Jessica needed to be seen. I would have called her in. I would have seen her face to face, and I hope my colleagues in the future will do the same.”
Dr Taylor described Jess’s Rule as ‘a think-again policy’.
“If a patient has turned up three times, it’s hang on a second, am I missing something?” he said.
“A good doctor would do that anyway,” he added.
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