The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

The senior GP, based in Lichfield, Staffordshire, said she was “profoundly concerned” about how
general practice would cope over winter when there is higher demand for NHS services.
Although seasonal woes have been a longstanding problem in the NHS, Stokes-Lampard said
attention had been focused on the impact on hospital care, when every peak in workload in A&E
departments was magnified at GP surgeries, which were “already skating on thin ice”.
“If you’ve got to deal with people who are acutely sick on the day, because people need help, then
chronic disease management will disappear,” she said.
Asked if patients with non-urgent needs would be forced to wait weeks to see their GP, she said:
“Absolutely. If it’s already taking some patients two to three weeks to get in to see a GP for the nonurgent
stuff, then by the time three to four weeks has passed, the non-urgent stuff may be becoming
urgent.
“With lumps or bleeding problems or things that could be signs of serious disease, my profound
concern is that people will delay seeking help for things that could potentially be life-threatening or
life-changing if they are not tackled swiftly. Extended waiting times pose a serious risk because of all
those unintended consequences.
“If we rein back on all that preventative care and all that chronic disease management because we are
too busy firefighting the urgent stuff, the knock-on consequences could take years to manifest, but they
will be very serious indeed. And that would be a tragedy.”
The shadow health minister, Julie Cooper, said the situation was extremely worrying and “the
government needs to wake up to the fact that there is a full-scale crisis in the NHS at every level”.
“We have heard a lot about the shortage of beds and waiting times in accident and emergency
departments, but there has been little acknowledgement of the pressures facing GP surgeries,” she
said.
“The truth is that they are overwhelmed by ever increasing demand. Add to this a chronic shortage of
GPs and a crisis in recruitment, and the result is a service that is at breaking point.”
An NHS England spokesman said: “Over the Christmas and new year period, the top priority has to
be medical emergencies, but the RCGP are right to remind everyone of what they describe as the
‘most phenomenal success story of the NHS’ – every day tens of thousands of people do not die who
would have died 20 to 30 years ago, because we are quietly saving them from having heart attacks,
strokes and complications of diabetes.
“That’s why GP services are on track to receive an extra £2.4bn in real terms investment by 2020 to
build on this track record of success and expand access to convenient appointments throughout the
week.”
This article was downloaded by calibre from https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/28/long-waits-to-see-gpmay-pose-serious-risk-patients-non-urgent-conditions