Peter Aldous speaks in a debate on GP appointment availability and calls for better collaboration right across the NHS to help with the exponential increase in demand for GP services at a time when the current infection, prevention and control measures mean that in-person appointments take much longer.
Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Robertson. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Joy Morrissey) on securing this debate and on her graphic and very personal assessment of the current position.
Over the past two to three months, I have received a great deal of correspondence on this issue, with constituents very upset that they have not been able to secure face-to-face appointments with their GPs. Late last month, I had a virtual meeting with GPs practising across the Waveney area, who themselves are very upset at the abuse that they have been receiving—something that they and their staff should not have to put up with.
There is clearly a major problem, and, at a time when the pressures on the NHS are growing at an exponential rate, there is a need to work together to find a solution. In the Norfolk and Waveney clinical commissioning group area, notwithstanding the enormous demand for GP services, the position with regard to appointments is positive, although it is recognised that more needs to be done. In August 2019, there were 478,160 GP appointments, and this August that figure increased to 482,993. The proportion of patients being seen face to face is increasing. This August it was 69%, compared to 67% in July and 66% in June. More patients are being seen face to face in Norfolk and Waveney than in other parts of the country: the August figure of 69% compares with a national average of 58%.
That said, it is recognised that a lot of people are very distressed, and in many cases very worried, that they have not been able to see their GP. The pandemic has meant that there is now an enormous increase in demand for GP services, with people on growing waiting lists needing support, and with those who were unable to see their GP during the pandemic wanting an appointment in order to highlight something that is causing them a lot of worry and distress.
The increase in demand for GP services has been happening for some time, but there are severe capacity constraints on the number of patients who can be seen face to face. The current infection, prevention and control measures that are needed to keep patients and staff safe mean that in-person appointments take much longer. Social distancing means that, at practices with smaller waiting rooms, people have to wait in their cars and staff have to go and get them when it is time for their appointment. Additional cleaning arrangements are also required between patients. There is a need to improve and standardise the way that remote appointments are operated and to adopt a whole-team approach, as there are many cases where a patient does not always need to see their GP and can often be cared for better by a physio or pharmacist.
Margaret Greenwood
The hon. Member is making some very interesting points. Does he agree that it is important that the Government review the outcomes of patients who have been consulted remotely? I have heard harrowing stories from my constituents. One woman thought she had a very minor ailment—she did not get seen by a GP, and she ended up with life-changing surgery. She will never be the same again. It is important that there is a national review of what has happened to such patients, rather than assuming that everything is all right because a patient does not come back.
Peter Aldous
I am most grateful to the hon. Member for that intervention, and I agree wholeheartedly with her. The more evidence we have, the more we can get remote forms of working to operate much better.
I previously mentioned the abuse that GPs and their staff receive. I should emphasise that it comes from only a small number of patients, but it is nevertheless making general practice a less attractive, and often quite unpleasant, place to work. That risks making GPs and practice staff harder to recruit and causing existing staff to retire early, to choose to work elsewhere in the NHS or even to leave the health service altogether.
The Government’s plan for improving access for patients and supporting general practice is largely to be welcomed, but there needs to be an emphasis on collaboration and working right across the NHS, which is something that the integrated care systems will hopefully achieve. It is also vital for the Government to see through our manifesto pledge to increase the number of GPs and other primary care professionals. There will be an increased emphasis on information technology, and the necessary investment in that infrastructure must take place right across the country in a way that is easy to operate and, most importantly, straightforward for all patients to access.