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‘Unprecedented pressure’ closes down GP surgeries to new patients

At least 100 GP surgeries have applied to NHS England to stop accepting patients in 2014-15 as a result of “unprecedented pressure”, an investigation has found.

The BBC-led investigation, using figures obtained via Freedom of Information requests, also found that 299 surgeries were indicating on the NHS Choices website in November that they were not taking on new patients.

According to the report, three of out the four town centre surgeries in Clacton-on-Sea, for example, have already stopped taking on new patients. Some are offering a massive ‘golden hello’ of up to £10,000 to attract staff.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA GP committee chairman, said these figures proved that many surgeries were at a “breaking point” as they tried to balance “unmanageable” demand with hundreds of staff vacancies.

“Some practices are having to consider taking the difficult decision to close their practice lists in order to safeguard safe and effective care because they do not have the resources or staff to treat the sheer number of patients coming through their surgery’s door,” he said.

“In this environment, many GPs are buckling under the pressure and stopping or reducing their work due to stress, a situation which is not only deeply upsetting for the individuals involved, but is further diminishing the capacity of GP services.

“With more than 600 GP trainee posts left vacant in 2015 and a third of the existing workforce considering retirement in the next five years, there are signs this crisis is likely to worsen this year.”

Nagpaul called on the government to take “urgent action” to provide GP practices with the necessary “resources and support” to help them treat more patients while retaining the same levels of safety and effectiveness.

Yesterday, Conservative MP Scott Mann raised the issue in the House of Commons, asking health secretary Jeremy Hunt what progress the Department of Health is making on increasing access to GP services.

But Hunt focused mainly on his ‘seven-day NHS’ vision, responding: “As part of our commitment to a seven-day NHS, we want all patients to be able to make routine appointments at their GP surgeries in the evenings and at weekends, and 2,500 out of 8,000 surgeries are currently running schemes to make that possible.”

Dismissing a Labour MP’s mention of the party’s former 48-hour GP access guarantee scheme as having “perverse consequences”, Hunt said the government has plans in place to increase the GP workforce by 13%. He predicted this would the “one of the biggest-ever increases” in the workforce in the history of the NHS.

Responding to Labour MP Fiona Mactaggart, who bemoaned a series of alleged reductions in GP partners’ incomes and the government’s failure to create new surgeries, Hunt said: “We have said that we want more of that money to go into general practice, to reverse the historical underfunding of general practice, which I completely agree needs to be reversed.”

According to the BMJ, Nagpaul has today argued that the future sustainability of GP practices is “in serious question” and indicated that a crisis summit, to be held later this month, could discuss possible industrial action.

The summit, the first special meeting of local medical committees in 13 years – which Nagpaul said highlights the severity of the GP crisis – will take place on 30 January.