DAUK has warned a new feature to allow family members and carers to manage the medical information of loved ones won\u2019t solve the underlying problem of a lack of GPs.\r\n\r\nThe \u2018family access\u2019 option on the NHS app is currently being piloted. It will let people apply online to add another person\u2019s profile to their NHS app.\r\n\r\nDr Steve Taylor, GP co-lead for the Doctors\u2019 Association UK (DAUK), said the move was not a silver bullet.\r\n\r\nHe praised the app for features like ordering prescriptions, checking blood test results, and providing patients with access to their own medical records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, he stressed the system still struggles to deliver timely appointments because of a shortage of GPs.\r\n\r\nDr Taylor was speaking on Morning Glory Mike Graham on Talk TV<\/a>.\r\n\r\nHe said: \u201cYou can use it to book appointments, but there are only so many appointments.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t solve the ultimate problem, which is getting access to a GP, and we\u2019re short of GPs.\u201d\r\n\r\nDr Taylor, who is one of the 38 million registered users of the app, added that patients can usually see blood test results within two to three days, but warned that digital services can sometimes leave older people behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt can be discriminative against older people, which is probably why they\u2019re trying to open it up to carers so other people can access it for them,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\n\u201cBut in certain relationships \u2013 tricky or even coercive ones \u2013 this could be a big problem.\u201d\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, Dr Taylor has warned that millions of face-to-face appointments could be lost when new rules require practices to keep online consultation systems open throughout core hours from October.\r\n\r\nSpeaking to GP Online, Dr Taylor said the change could overwhelm practices, forcing cuts to in-person care.\r\n\r\nHe said: \u2018There is limited capacity of appointments and time, so with the increase in access requests this will have an effect on other parts of patient services.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis will include fewer face-to-face appointments, possibly waiting lists and fewer pre-booked appointments being offered.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Taylor warned the policy could harm rather than improve patient care without investment in GP recruitment.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere are available GPs who are unemployed or underemployed,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nRead the article in full on GP Online<\/a>.\r\n\r\nDAUK committee members are all volunteers and campaign on issues facing frontline doctors in their own time. Please support our work by joining DAUK<\/a> or donating to our GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DAUK has warned a new feature to allow family members and carers to manage the medical information of loved ones won\u2019t solve the underlying problem…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[557,23,715],"class_list":["post-1433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dauk-news","tag-dauk-gp","tag-gp-crisis","tag-nhs-app"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Discriminative<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Unemployed GPs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n