The RCGP and Patients Association have launched a joint campaign to make general practice easier to navigate and feel less like a ‘maze of detours’ – for both patients and GPs.
Their report, “It Shouldn’t Be This Hard”: Solving the NHS maze for patients and GPs, also calls for improved access to GP care and continuity.
The two organisations have drawn up three recommendations and priorities based on patient and GP feedback as both groups have to deal with a system ‘that is confusing, frustrating and demoralising’, said the RCGP.
‘Both GPs and patients feel strongly that something needs to change’, it has said.
The three priorities the campaign puts forward are:
- Every patient should be able to navigate their care – patients and GPs must be equal partners in co-designing care pathways so they reflect real experiences and needs. The NHS must provide clear and consistent information about how to access services and what to expect so patients feel informed and empowered in decisions about their healthcare.
- Every patient should be able to see their GP when they need to – Governments across the UK must set out clear plans to boost workforce numbers and provide sufficient funding for GP recruitment and retention so patients can access care when they need it – and to improve continuity of care.
- Every patient should be able to access information about their care – patients and GPs must be equal partners in designing simpler, user-friendly systems to allow patients to see key information about their care, including being able to easily track specialist referrals.
The report highlights GP concerns that the time spent supporting patients to navigate the NHS could be better spent supporting their clinical needs. The RCGP’s most recent survey of members found that around one quarter of GP workload is spent on administrative workload or bureaucracy related to clinical care that does not improve patient care or outcomes, for example.
GPs have also said they spend ‘significant time’ chasing up referrals and facing problems when doing so, largely because of poor interoperability between systems in primary and secondary care. An RCGP poll found that 54% of GPs say the ability of their IT system to exchange information with secondary care is not fit for purpose.
Meanwhile, the report concludes there are not enough GPs to provide the safe and timely care patients need – numbers of patients per full-time, fully-qualified GP in England has increased to around 2,240, a 16% rise since 2015. And there is a paradox where GPs are struggling to find employment while patients cannot get appointments.
Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown, chair of the Royal College of GPs said although general practice is the front door to the NHS, ‘it’s clear that too many patients feel that opening that door leads them into a maze’.
She added: ‘GPs share this frustration; we see first-hand how bureaucratic and overwhelming it can be and spend considerable amounts of time trying to navigate this maze too – by chasing letters or following up on referrals, for instance. These are valuable hours that could be spent with our patients.
‘The uncertainty of not knowing where they are in the system has come out as a particular concern. We find that when people know how long they’re going to have to wait for care, it’s much easier to deal with than when they are left in the dark. That’s why we want patients to be able to access this information themselves, without having to rely on GP teams to chase it on their behalf’.
Professor Tzortziou Brown further said: ‘What is also clear is the need for more GPs so we can offer patients better access to the care we deliver. This isn’t just about quick access, but better access to the continuity of care many patients need, and which GPs are expert in delivering. Decades of underfunding and poor workforce planning have left GP numbers far behind where they need to be – and it’s our patients who suffer when they have to wait too long, particularly for an appointment with a GP they know and trust, for appointments that are too short.’
She urged the Government to go beyond its commitment to provide ‘thousands’ more GPs and publish ‘ a detailed, fully funded plan to recruit, employ and retain the GP workforce patients need.’
Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients’ Association said: ‘Patients have told us clearly what they need: appointments when they need them, enough time to explain what’s wrong, and for those with complex conditions, not having to repeat their entire history every visit.
‘They want to be able to track their referrals instead of being left in the dark. They want access to information about their own care. And they want to be equal partners in designing the services they rely on – not recipients of systems designed around organisational need.’
