DAUK\u2019s GP co-lead said employing more GPs was the key to improving access to general practice as he challenged the Health Secretary on national radio.\r\n\r\nDr Steve Taylor was invited on to the Nick Ferrari Show on LBC to discuss comments by Wes Streeting about new online access to general practice.\r\n\r\nMr Streeting and health minister Stephen Kinnock have said the changes will \u2018end the 8am scramble\u2019 for appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, without employing more GPs and creating more appointments, the change has simply opened up an additional avenue for requesting an appointment.\r\n\r\n\u201cOnline forms are not appointments,\u201d Dr Taylor said.\r\n\r\nDr Taylor posted on social media<\/a> highlighting that two practices recently visited by Mr Kinnock had temporarily switched off their online consultation systems early.\r\n\r\nOne was at 6pm, and another stopped requests after 4.30pm, except for administrative queries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both were examples of safeguards recommended by the BMA, he said, but would put the surgeries in breach of the GP contract.\r\n\r\nDr Taylor told LBC listeners most practices were doing \u2018pretty well\u2019 in delivering online access.\r\n\r\nHe added that the profession wanted to offer an even better service, but was limited by a shortage of GPs.\r\n\r\n\u201cGPs want to provide excellent access for their patients,\u201d Dr Taylor said. \u201cBut the reality is that we\u2019ve got too much demand and not enough GPs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n General practice delivered around 40 million appointments in the last month alone, equivalent to two-thirds of the population, Dr Taylor said.\r\n\r\nBut he added that many patients still struggled to book an appointment, particularly those who found digital systems difficult to navigate.\r\n\r\n\u201cAround 25% of the population find online routes challenging or can\u2019t use them at all,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\n\u201cPractices work hard to ensure phone lines and walk-ins are available, but without enough GPs, demand will always outstrip supply.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked how people who work in the NHS view Mr Streeting, Dr Taylor said many felt unheard by him.\r\n\r\n\u201cI think we\u2019re all a bit unhappy with him,\u201d Dr Taylor said. \u201cHe talks well and is very amenable on breakfast shows and TV interviews.\r\n\r\n\u201cBut there\u2019s a feeling he\u2019s pushing through his way without listening to those on the ground.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cGPs are doing an amazing job under immense pressure. What we\u2019re asking for is the resources to do it properly.\u201d\r\n\r\nListen again to Dr Taylor and Mr Streeting on LBC via the DAUK Instagram<\/a>.\r\n\r\nAll of our committee members are volunteers. They speak to the media and campaign on the issues facing doctors in their own time. Please support their work by joining DAUK<\/a> or donating to our GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DAUK\u2019s GP co-lead said employing more GPs was the key to improving access to general practice as he challenged the Health Secretary on national radio.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,59],"tags":[557,22,23,123,729],"class_list":["post-1460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dauk-news","category-general-practice","tag-dauk-gp","tag-dr-steve-taylor","tag-gp-crisis","tag-lbc","tag-nick-ferrari"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460","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=1460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}BMA safeguards<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
GP appointments<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Health Secretary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n