Javid joins fight for more face-to-face GP appointments

GPs are doing a phenomenal job... we need to free up more of their time so they can focus on seeing patients A SENIOR GOVERNMENT SOURCE YESTERDAY

SAJID Javid dramatically stepped in last night to ensure patients have face-to-face access to GPs.

In a significant victory for the Daily Mail’s campaign, the Health Secretary said he would slash red tape to give family doctors time to undertake more appointments in person.

Mr Javid is looking at ways GPs can be saddled with less paperwork to encourage them to see more patients at clinics, this paper can reveal.

By slashing bureaucracy, he hopes far fewer patients will have to make do with telephone or online consultations, reducing the risk that serious health conditions could be missed.

But the Health Secretary will warn doctors that those who continue to provide an unacceptably low level of face-to-face access will be held to account.

Earlier this week, the Health Secretary met leaders from the British Medical Association and the Royal College of GPs to discuss access to doctors and how the public can get face-toface appointments.

A senior government source said: ‘GPs are doing a phenomenal job and we need to free up more of their time so they can focus on seeing patients rather than filing paperwork.

‘That is why we are urgently looking at ways to cut bureaucracy in the system. For many people telephone appointments are more convenient but of course those who want a face-to-face appointment should be able to get one.’

Additional support will be explored for GP practices that require it, while those performing to a poor standard will be held to account, the source added.

The Mail launched its campaign on Monday following growing concerns that serious illnesses were being missed because too many appointments were being held remotely. Before the pandemic, more than 80 per cent of GP appointments nationally were in person – compared with just 57 per cent this July.

The Health Secretary has already backed the Mail’s campaign, saying: ‘I am committed to ensuring everyone – no matter who they are or where they live – can choose to see their GP face to face and I am grateful to the Daily Mail for launching this campaign.’

Earlier this week Boris Johnson also spoke out in support of it, saying people were ‘entitled’ to see their GP in person.

He told reporters on his trip to the US that thousands would ‘suffer’ unless the pre-pandemic system was reinstated.

But GP leaders told the Commons earlier this week that faceto-face appointments would never return to pre-pandemic levels.

Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, told MPs on

Tuesday that Covid safety measures and high demand meant it was impossible to offer consultations to patients in person simply because they would ‘like’ one.

However, oncologist Professor Karol Sikora, former director of the World Health Organisation’s cancer programme, last night welcomed Mr Javid’s intervention. He added: ‘It is true that there is way too much paperwork for GPs. We need this to be streamlined and we need to be able to empower GPs to book scans themselves.’

Dennis Reed, from pensioners’ campaign group Silver Voices, said: ‘This is an encouraging move and shows the Daily Mail’s campaign is having an effect at the Department of Health.

‘What we need now is a target for every GP practice on how many face-to-face appointments they should hold – a carrot and stick approach.’

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, added: ‘We’re not there yet but these are promising signs...

‘If a bonfire of paperwork helps free up more time for in-person appointments in local surgeries [then] I’m sure everyone would support it.’

FAMILY doctors are the backbone of the nation’s health. But the public fears this invaluable service is disintegrating.

Even with the worst of the pandemic behind us, face-to-face appointments are like gold dust. Shockingly, in parts of Britain just one in five patients are seen in person by their GP.

Too many doctors believe virtual consultations, introduced to prevent Covid spreading, should be the default position.

There’s nothing, of course, inherently wrong with phone or online diagnosis. Doctors can treat more patients and busy people may find them more convenient.

But there are also tragic drawbacks. Too many families have lost loved ones early because signs of serious illness were missed without a physical examination.

So we are delighted Sajid Javid backs our campaign to reverse the worrying decline of the traditional doctor.

In a significant victory, the Health Secretary vows to ease surgeries’ burden by slashing red tape, look at relaxing limits on patient numbers in waiting rooms and, crucially, ‘hold doctors to account’ if they don’t see more patients in the flesh.

GPs – many who despite the obstacles have offered first-class care – are not wholly at fault. Ministers need to train thousands more, while disastrous contracts introduced by Labour in 2004 scandalously paid doctors more for doing less work.

But normal service must quickly resume. The Health Secretary wants it; the Mail wants it; and, most importantly, the patients want it. Let’s make it happen.