Now ANOTHER group of medics could strike! GPs threaten to shut surgeries in row over online consultations
GPs have threatened to join NHS strike action in protest over a new online bookings and consultations system.
A poll of 431 family doctors and practice managers found that more than a third would be willing to close their doors temporarily for a day as part of their dispute with the Government.
Surgeries in England are now required to keep online forms open for the duration of their working hours, allowing patients to submit requests between 8am and 6:30pm.
The move, ordered by the Government and introduced nationwide on October 1, was aimed at reducing the so-called ‘8am scramble’.
Many surgeries already have a system that allows patients to request consultations online, with staff reviewing these and booking appointments accordingly.
But the Department of Health says there is a lack of consistency, with some surgeries choosing to switch the function off in busier periods and others only allowing patients to phone up.
British Medical Association (BMA) officials, the union representing doctors including GPs, however have argued that safeguards were never put in place and no additional staff were brought in to manage a ‘barrage of online requests’.
The poll by the trade publications Pulse and Management in Practice, also found that 48 per cent of GPs and practice managers would be happy to redirect patients to A&E and 28 per cent would stop online consultations completely.
A poll of 431 family doctors and practice managers found that more than a third would be willing to close their doors temporarily for a day as part of their dispute with the Government. Pictured, resident doctors on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London last week
GPs were spending the equivalent of 200,000 appointments each week implementing the changes, the survey said.
One GP told Pulse: ‘I feel extremely strongly that this new contract is detrimental to patient safety and clinician workload. I would be prepared to participate in industrial action.
‘After 20 years as a GP loving her job I am seriously considering my future in NHS general practice as I do not find this new contract sustainable nor safe.’
Another said: ‘I cannot recall a single patient who came to me pleased by the digital interface.
‘Any form of collective action would be sensible. I cannot see any patient who is actually happy with the way things are going.’
Other GPs responding to the survey claimed the system was a ‘joke’ and had meant some patients were ‘sending in trivial requests, sometimes twice a day’.
One reported: ‘We are even getting queries when patients are abroad, and they get upset if we cannot answer them.’
A proportion of GPs staged industrial action last August amid a row over funding and unsustainable workload, which saw them limit daily patient contacts to a maximum of 25 per clinician.
Prior to this some GPs also took action in 2012 in protest against increases in pension contributions and a later retirement age for doctors.
Estimates suggest that between a fifth and a third of practices took part in the action.
Ministers have been under renewed pressure to fix the crisis in general practice.
Disgruntled patients have even previously complained of having to visit A&E instead, heaping extra pressure on swamped casualty units.
In total, there are now over 28,000 fully-qualified full-time GPs in England. Numbers have dwindled over the past decade despite attempts to recruit thousands more.
Many are retiring in their 50s, moving abroad or leaving to work in the private sector because of soaring demand, paperwork and aggressive media coverage of the NHS.
At the same time, the population has also grown, exacerbating the problem.
Responding to the poll, the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘This data only represents a very small minority of GP practices and is not reflective of the national picture.
‘The majority of GPs have rolled out online access successfully, a service which patients want and rightly expect in the 21st century, and we are supporting the remaining practices in getting this up and running through guidance and seminars.
‘The latest escalation by the BMA GPCE [general practitioners committee England] is founded on untruths, with any further action putting patient safety at risk at a critical time ahead of winter.
‘We are supporting GPs by providing a funding boost of £1.1 billion, recruiting 2,500 more GPs and cutting red tape, as well as launching a review into the distribution of GP funding, and have placed them at the heart of our ten-year health plan.’
It comes as resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are part-way through their own five-day walkout amid a row over pay and conditions.
The action, which will end tomorrow at 7am, is the 13th walkout by doctors since March 2023, with the last strike in July estimated to have cost the health service £300 million.
But Sir Jim Mackey, the NHS chief executive, wrote to hospital leaders on Sunday congratulating them on maintaining 95 per cent of planned activity so far, and he said that fewer doctors had taken to the picket line than in previous rounds.
