Patients ‘guaranteed’ advance GP bookings
Ministers have today moved to end the farce whereby patients are unable to book an appointment with their GP more than two days in advance.
It comes as a report from the Healthcare Commission finds that 30 per cent of 117,000 people surveyed could not arrange an appointment more than three days in advance.
The issue came to the fore earlier this year when Tony Blair admitted he was “astonished” to hear the government’s 48-hour target was preventing bookings made further ahead.
The aim of the target is to ensure patients have access to a GP within two days, but as several members of a special general election edition of Question Time told the prime minister, this frequently results in surgeries refusing to accept advance bookings.
Today Lord Warner announced new measures guaranteeing patients the choice of booking an advance appointment, saying that not allowing them to do so was “unacceptable”.
“Patients rightly expect to see a GP at a convenient time more than two days in advance,” the health minister said.
“They should not face the frustration of having to call their practice back on the day they want an appointment. Practices must already offer quick access to a GP, but we will move to guarantee patients more flexible access if they want to book ahead.
“The 24/48 hour access target is a key priority and has – by any measure – led to patients being able to see a GP more quickly. There is absolutely no justification for this target being used as an excuse for an inflexible appointments system.”
Lord Warner admitted there was a gap between “patient experience and the department’s data” but said the government was committed to making improved access “more real for everybody”.
He added that the figures that did exist suggested a steady reduction in the number of patients being denied the choice of booking ahead, but said the new guarantee – ensuring all patients could book ahead where it is clinically justified – should accelerate this.
At the time, the Conservatives seized on Mr Blair’s apparent unawareness of the problem – he said it was “news to me” – as an example of how he was “out of touch” with what was really happening in the NHS.
“It is his government that set the targets which distorts the way GPs want to run their practice and constricts patient choice,” health spokesman Andrew Lansley said.
Today’s report from the Healthcare Commission was designed to establish patients’ opinions of general practices, local health centres and dental surgeries.
It finds that 76 per cent were confident of their GP’s ability and 92 per cent said they were always treated “with dignity and respect” by their doctor.
With regard to NHS dentists, 75 per cent of patients said they definitely had confidence in their dentist and 70 per cent said they were definitely involved in their care.
