The new health secretary Therese Coffey’s new “Plan for Patients” under which patients should not have to wait more than two weeks to see their GP, is already receiving considerable criticism from GPs.
Prof Martin Marshall, chair of The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has accused Coffey of expecting already hard-pressed GP surgeries to meet new targets, without a plan to deliver them:
“Lumbering a struggling service with more expectations, without a plan as to how to deliver them, will only serve to add to the intense workload and workforce pressures GPs and our teams are facing, whilst also having minimal impact on the care patients receive”.
Prof Marshall also noted that:
“around 85% of appointments in general practice are already happening within two weeks of being booked, with 44% being delivered on the day they are booked – both higher figures than in 2019 – and those taking longer than two weeks after booking may be routine or regular appointments for which the timing is therefore appropriate”.
Full story in The Lowdown, 24 September 2022