"GPs in England are threatening to take action over government plans to increase patients' online access to appointments which they say will lead to a tsunami of extra demand. Ministers have been given 48 hours to put in place measures to stop GPs being overwhelmed when the new system intended to help patients beat the 8am scramble starts on Wednesday."
"The British Medical Association (BMA) agreed a deal with NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in February that will let patients request an appointment with a family doctor using online booking between 8am and 6.30pm from Monday to Friday. The doctors' union claims ministers have broken a promise made then to implement necessary safeguards before 1 October to ensure that patients only sought non-urgent consultations online."
"The BMA says the extension of digital booking to everyone will overload GPs and risk patient safety. The chair of the BMA's GPs committee, Dr Katie Bramall, said the introduction of the system will likely lead to the creation of hospital-style waiting lists in general practice. The union also says the move will lead to family doctors being able to see fewer patients face to face because they will be too busy assessing the all-day stream of requests for a consultation."
Ministers plan to expand online booking so patients can request GP appointments between 8am and 6.30pm on weekdays, aiming to reduce the 8am scramble. The BMA says ministers failed to implement agreed safeguards to limit requests to non-urgent consultations before October. The union warns that unrestricted digital access will generate a tsunami of demand, overload understaffed practices, reduce face-to-face capacity, and create hospital-style waiting lists. The BMA has given the Department of Health and Social Care 48 hours to enact promised safety measures and could ballot GPs for industrial action including limiting patient numbers.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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