Patients are struggling to navigate the “maze” of NHS services, with health leaders warning that the current system is “confusing, frustrating and demoralising”.
A new report from the Royal College of GPs and the Patients Association highlights an urgent need for the Government to simplify access to the health service.
They describe the NHS as a “complex web of organisations”, making it increasingly difficult for individuals to receive the care they require.
This complexity often results in patients feeling rushed during appointments, enduring lengthy waits, experiencing lost referrals, and facing “unmanageable administerial burdens”, according to the findings.
The organisations are urging ministers to streamline processes to ensure patients can more easily access vital healthcare.
“Patients and GPs are often struggling with the same challenges as they try to navigate an increasingly complex system,” the report states.
“Accessing the NHS often feels like a maze of dead ends and detours.”
Patients told the RCGP and the Patients Association that they often felt “left in the dark, not knowing how their referral was progressing or if it had been made at all”.
The organisations have made a series of recommendations, including a call for patients to be able to track specialist referrals.
There are currently 6.17 million patients on the NHS waiting list for specialist care.
The College and the Patients Association have launched a new campaign calling for the NHS to be “truly accessible and navigable for all”.
In her first interview since taking post, Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “General practice is the front door to the NHS and what a lot of patients told us through this campaign is that it feels like they are opening the front door to a maze.
“Patients have told us that accessing care can be confusing, care can feel fragmented and (they) can feel full of uncertainty at times about what happens next.
“Patients can feel like they are chasing information all of the time.”
GPs are stuck in that same uncertainty too, she said.
“We spend a significant proportion of our time – sometimes between 15 to 30 per cent – following up on referrals and administrative processes and paperwork instead of seeing patients.
“This can be very frustrating for both patients and GPs.
“This campaign is about highlighting the issue and fixing it together.”
She added: “What we are advocating for is for the NHS to feel easier to navigate so that patients can get the right care at the right time and they see the right person when they need to.”
Prof Tzortziou Brown said the RCGP and the Patients Association had three asks of Government that are “not necessarily radical” and “don’t require a huge reorganisation or reshuffle” but could make a “significant difference in how care is experienced for patients”.
She added: “(We are) calling for the NHS to be easier to navigate overall.
“No-one should feel lost in the NHS, especially when they are at their most vulnerable.
“This uncertainty causes more anxiety and creates unnecessary work for patients and GPs so what we want is for more user-friendly systems which we think would make a huge difference.”
Meanwhile, the report also calls for more GPs to overcome the challenges some patients face in accessing their family doctor.
Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “Patients have told us clearly what they need: appointments when they need them, enough time to explain what’s wrong, and for those with complex conditions, not having to repeat their entire history every visit.
“They want to be able to track their referrals instead of being left in the dark. They want access to information about their own care.
“They want to be equal partners in designing the services they rely on – not recipients of systems designed around organisational need.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This Government is fixing the front door to the NHS, and our priority is to ensure General Practice is properly resourced, attractive as a career, and able to deliver high-quality, continuous care for patients not just now, but for generations to come.
“To tackle the issues we inherited, we’ve recruited over 2,000 GPs in the last year alone, given primary care a £1.1 billion funding boost, and rolled out online booking requests to ease pressure on services and improve access to appointments.
“We’re also bringing back the family doctor, ending the 8am scramble and boosting patient satisfaction as we build an NHS the country can be proud of again.”
