26.07.16
Forward View ‘guarantee’ needed to stop crisis in general practice
Reforms designed to make general practice sustainable must be delivered by the new government, the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has said, as it warned that cases of patients having to wait more than a week to see a GP could reach almost 100 million in five years.
New analysis by the RCGP shows that the number of incidents where patients had to wait over a week was at 69 million in 2015-16 and could reach 98 million in 2020-21 if the GP Forward View isn’t introduced – with 52 million cases of patients not seeing a GP at all.
The GP Forward View was published by NHS England in April in a bid to tackle the growing problems besetting the sector, with the UK topping an international table in terms of stress and care co-ordination problems for GPs, and 10% of surgeries currently in unsustainable financial positions.
The Forward View included a commitment by NHS England to invest £2.4bn in general practice by 2021 and set a target of increasing doctor recruitment to 3,250 every year.
However, since then David Cameron has resigned as prime minister and been replaced by Theresa May, although health secretary Jeremy Hunt has kept his job.
There have also been warnings that the UK’s vote to withdraw from the EU could contribute to the financial pressures on the NHS, as well as make recruiting nurses harder.
Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the RCGP, called the figures “frankly flabbergasting”.
She added: “All the evidence shows that general practice is in crisis, and that crisis is worsening.
“However, having recognised the scale of the meltdown, the government, under David Cameron, announced plans to save general practice and help pay for a service that could consistently meet the needs of our patients.
“We now need a guarantee from the new prime minister, the new chancellor and the health secretary that the NHS England General Practice Forward View will be delivered in full. This is an especially pressing issue given that so many voters in the EU referendum were swayed in their opinion by concerns about the NHS and particularly by worsening GP waiting times.”
The RCGP analysis showed that in 2015-16, almost 10 million patients did not receive healthcare after they were unable to make an appointment with their GP, and that this could reach a total of 46.8 million between now and 2020-21.
The General Practice Froward View has itself proved controversial, with GPs voting in favour of a motion calling it inadequate and “grounds for a trade dispute” at the BMA Local Medical Committee conference.
They urged the government to adopt the BMA’s Prescription for General Practice instead.
The latest edition of NHE features an article by Mark Spencer, the co-chair of the New NHS Alliance, on the Forward View.
4pm UPDATE
A Department of Health spokesperson told NHE: "The Forward View is absolutely going ahead."
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