PATIENT care is ‘deteriorating’ in half of GP practices as GP services buckle under rising workload, a new BMA survey warned yesterday.
More than half of GP practices believe the quality of care they deliver is deteriorating because of rising workload according to a new BMA survey of almost 2,900 GP practices in England.
The BMA’s new survey was answered by just over a third of GP practices in England and asked about their current workload.
Key findings:
• Over half of GP Practices in England (55 per cent) reported that the quality of service in their practice had deteriorated in the past twelve months.
• Just two per cent of practices said their workload was low or generally manageable.
• More than half (55 per cent) said their workload was unmanageable a lot of the time while just over one in ten (thirteen per cent) said it was unmanageable all of the time.
• Nine out of ten practices (92 per cent) said that there had been a rise in demand for appointments in the past twelve months.
• The West Midlands had the highest level of unmanageable workload with 16 per cent of GP practices recording this level, while the South of England reported the biggest deterioration in patient care with two thirds of practices (66 per cent) saying it had declined.
BMA GP leader Dr Chaand Nagpaul said doctors are having to rush patients to keep up and this could be potentially dangerous in terms of identifying cancer and getting medicines right.
Dr Nagpaul said: ‘It is unsustainable and getting to the point where it is not safe. The ageing population means many of our patients have multiple conditions and are on multiple medicines, but we simply don’t have the time to properly consider how they interact.
‘On cancer we are having to make rushed decisions. And we are seeing growing numbers of patients with dementia – and yet just have 10 minutes to see them. It’s not enough. We are being forced to let down patients. We need to see more investment in general practice so we can keep up with demand and have longer 15-minute consultations.’
