Collective action by GPs will ‘only punish patients,’ Wes Streeting warned earlier this morning.
During a speech at the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) conference, the Health Secretary said that he understood why doctors ‘wanted to give the previous government a kicking,’ but asked them not to ‘shut your doors to patients’ as their care would suffer.
Streeting said: ‘I wanted to send a message that I understand how bad things are and that I’m determined to fix them, but I can’t do this alone. We can only do this together. So I’m asking GPs to stand down collective action and instead work with this new government that is serious about working with you.’
In August, the British Medical Association (BMA) conducted a ballot, where 98.3% of the 8,500 GPs who took part voted in favour of collective action.
Following the ballot, the BMA recommended 10 protocols for surgeries to action, including limiting the number of patients seen by a doctor each day to 25 and being able to stop work when they are not contracted to do so.
NHS England had warned that the action could not only disrupt GP services, but also affect A&E waits and delay referrals for treatments such as knee and hip operations.
Meanwhile, Streeting promised to cut down on bureaucracy and reduce the workload on practices. He said that GPs spend more than 20% of their time on admin and work created by poor communications with secondary care.
‘This is intolerable, that time should be spent with patients. That’s why today I can announce that Amanda Pritchard and I will launch a red tape challenge to bulldoze bureaucracy so GPs are freed up to deliver more appointments.
‘Our reform agenda will deliver three big shifts in healthcare to make the NHS fit for the future - moving it from analogue to digital, hospital to community, and sickness to prevention,’ said Streeting.
Responding to the Health Secretary’s speech, Professor Kamila Hawthorne, RCGP chair said: ‘The health secretary’s commitment to increase the proportion of resources going into primary care has the potential to turn things around, but this can only happen if we work together. Additional resources are needed now in general practice, and the forthcoming Budget will be the ideal opportunity to start delivering this.
‘The college has been clear that we want to see an urgent resolution to the collective action and we urge the Government and the BMA to find a fair outcome that will allow GPs to do their jobs and patients to receive the care they need.’