GPs across England could cap appointments to 25 a day in the latest industrial action over funding levels.
Family doctors voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking collective action, for the first time in 60 years, in protest at the previous Government only increasing their budget by 1.9% this year.
Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, the chair of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) GP committee, said: ‘We had a huge response to this ballot, and the results are clear – GPs are at the end of their tether. This is an act of desperation. For too long, we’ve been unable to provide the care we want to. We are witnessing general practice being broken. The era of the family doctor has been wiped out by recent consecutive governments and our patients are suffering as a result.’
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The BMA has suggested a range of actions GPs could take, including a limit on the number of patients they see to 25 a day, which could force patients to use A&E or 111. Other actions may include refusing to share patient data unless it’s in the best interests of a patient, referring patients directly to specialist care rather than following longer and more complex NHS processes, and switching off NHS software which tries to cut prescribing costs.
The Royal College of GPs welcomed the move which showed the ‘strength of feeling’ among family doctors in England. Its chair, Prof Kamila Hawthorne, said: ‘No GP will want to restrict the services they provide for their patients – and it needs to be made clear that GPs and their teams will still be working. But there are many aspects of what GPs provide that go well beyond the contractual requirements they are under, and this additional workload and the goodwill of the GPs delivering it, have been taken for granted for too long.’
But NHS leaders have warned that the action could cause ‘significant disruption’ beyond just GP services and risk harming those in need of care.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘Collective action by family doctors could be catastrophic for the NHS. General practice is supporting more patients than before the Covid pandemic so any reduction in activity, such as appointments, will put more pressure on A&E departments, waiting lists and other aspects of care.’
Responding to the call for industrial action, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he could ‘understand why GPs would want to punish the previous Conservative government’ but expressed concern that ‘this will only punish patients’.
‘The Conservatives already got their kicking at the general election, and we now have a Labour government that's really committed to working with GPs to rebuild general practice so that people can get a GP appointment when they need one.’