Some good news, it seems, as the NHS (in England at least) is going to abandon attempts to force people to speak to a GP over the phone before getting a face to face appointment.
I wonder how easy it will be in practice to speak to a GP though.
I wonder how easy it will be in practice to speak to a GP though.
Every patient to have right to see a GP as NHS abandons ‘total triage’
Climbdown comes after The Telegraph revealed patients were being discouraged from visits and told to have online or phone discussion first
www.telegraph.co.uk
Every patient to have right to see a GP as NHS abandons ‘total triage’
Climbdown comes after The Telegraph revealed patients were being discouraged from visits and told to have online or phone discussion first
The NHS on Thursday night performed a climbdown over plans to use online and telephone "screening" for GP appointments and announced that every patient would now have the right to see their doctor face-to-face.
The Telegraph revealed on Wednesday that family doctors had been told to introduce a system of "total triage", meaning those seeking to see their GP were being discouraged and told to have an online or phone discussion first.
But NHS England has now ordered that the system be abolished amid a mounting backlash from patients' groups and doctors. New guidance to all GPs will instead say that every practice in England must make "a clear offer of appointments in person" and respect the preferences of patients.
Dr Nikki Kanani, the NHS medical director for primary care, and Ed Waller, the director of primary care, wrote to all GPs on Thursday night to inform them that the new operating procedures supersede all previous guidance.
GP practices must all ensure they are offering face-to-face appointments," the letter says. "While the expanded use of video, online and telephone consultations can be maintained where patients find benefit from them, this should be done alongside a clear offer of appointments in person.
"Practices should respect preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary, for example the presence of Covid symptoms."
It came after the Patients' Association, the Royal College of GPs, the British Medical Association and Jacob Rees-Mogg , the Commons leader, all raised concerns about the NHS proposal for "total triage".
Ohe Telegraph has been inundated with letters from readers describing problems accessing GP care – with one likening their local surgery to Fort Knox – after it highlighted the problems.
On Thursday night, Prof Martin Marshall, the chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: "This is good news and is what patients and GPs want to see.
"It removes all ambiguity, and we're particularly pleased that our calls for shared decision-making between GP and patient on the most appropriate method of consultation have been heard. We now have a flexible approach decided upon by clinicians and their patients."
The system of "total triage" was first introduced at the start of the pandemic in an attempt to keep patients away from GP surgeries and reduce the spread of infection. The advice became formalised in annual NHS planning guidance which came into force last month.
NHS England had always said anyone deemed by a doctor to require a face-to-face consultation should still be able to get one after undergoing remote assessment. But the national system has now been scrapped amid increasing concern that patients were being denied care they needed.
Oe pensioner told how she had made more than 100 calls a day to her local surgery in Kent on behalf of a neighbour in her 90s in an attempt to get an appointment. When she finally got through, she was told the only way to be assessed was via an online consultation.
Hundreds of readers highlighted their struggles to access care after The Telegraph reported the case of Joy Stokes, 69, who died from cancer after months of being refused an appointment.