09 September 2005
Changes to GP access targets to ensure patients can book in advance will fail to tackle the underlying cause of the problems with appointments, the British Medical Association has claimed.
A Healthcare Commission survey of 117,000 patients, published this week, found that 30% could not book a GP appointment more than two days in advance. Many practices have abandoned advance booking in favour of a 'book on the day' system in order to meet the 48-hour access target.
During the election campaign the prime minister was embarrassed when a voter pointed out the unintended consequences of the target. He promised to look at the problem, and the government is to guarantee that patients will be able to book in advance in the forthcoming out-of-hospital care white paper.
However, BMA GPs' leader Hamish Meldrum said a shortage of doctors was the real cause of booking problems.
'You cannot create significantly more appointments until you solve the capacity problem. There is a lack of investment in practice premises – if there is no funding to create more space you cannot put in extra doctors or nurses to see more patients,' he added.
Though primary care trusts reported that around 99% of patients were seen within the time limit, 12% of patients told the commission that they had not been able to see a GP within the 48-hour target period.
The King's Fund was concerned about this discrepancy and called for better monitoring, particularly as GP payments and PCT star ratings were calculated using performance against the target.
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