Four million patients are left without an out of hours GP: because trusts are unable to find doctors to work overnight and weekend shifts
- A tenth of trusts said they couldn't find GPs for overnight or weekend shifts
- They cover a population of about four million, but that number could be higher
- The shortage has come about as a result of a disastrous contract negotiated for GPs in 2004 that allowed them to opt-out of evening and weekend work
- These problems have intensified due to a steep rise in GPs’ insurance fees
Millions of patients are being left in the hands of nurses and paramedics out-of-hours instead of GPs, an investigation has found.
A tenth of health trusts admitted they were unable to find GPs for overnight or weekend shifts on at least one occasion last year.
They cover a population of about four million but the true figure is likely to be even higher because some areas did not supply figures.
The revelation will fuel concerns that problems in the GP system are adding to the pressure on A&E departments.
A tenth of health trusts, which cover a population of about four million, admitted they were unable to find GPs for overnight or weekend shifts on at least one occasion last year
Managers in Tower Hamlets, east London, admitted a quarter of a million patients had been left without a doctor on 12 separate occasions during 2016.
Patients were told to contact the community night team which is staffed by nurses or paramedics, or go to the nearest A&E.
In Peterborough the population of 237,000 was left without a GP out of hours on nine occasions. Each time, parents with sick children were told to go straight to A&E.
The shortage has come about as a result of a disastrous contract negotiated for GPs in 2004 that allowed them to opt-out of evening and weekend work.
Patients were told to contact the community night team which is staffed by nurses or paramedics, or go to the nearest A&E, which could fuel concerns over the increased pressure on A&E departments
These problems have intensified due to a steep rise in GPs’ insurance fees, which they have to pay before working out of hours.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, urged the Government to make out-of-hours work more attractive.
She said: ‘More must be done to address the serious barriers that serve to make working out of hours an unattractive option for GPs. It isn’t just the unsociable hours, but the indemnity costs to work out-of-hours simply make it unviable in many cases.’
Freedom of Information requests by health magazine Pulse received replies from the majority of health trusts responsible for out-of-hours services. It found ten of the 104 trusts which replied were unable to fund a GP at least once in 2016.
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