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A new contractual clause for general practitioners (GPs) in England will require them to offer same-day appointments to patients presenting urgent health needs. This measure aims to guarantee prompt access to care for those who require immediate medical attention. The government has outlined that this change is designed to ensure timely treatment for all urgent cases.
To support this commitment, funding for GP services is set to rise by nearly £500 million, representing a 3.6% increase in cash terms. The additional resources are intended to facilitate the recruitment of more doctors, helping to meet the demand created by this policy. Despite this investment, the British Medical Association (BMA) has expressed concerns about unrealistic expectations, emphasizing the already significant pressures faced by primary care services.
Currently, practices allocate a portion of their daily appointments to urgent cases, although there is no formal requirement to track how many patients actually receive same-day care. Starting in April, GPs will be contractually obliged to monitor this metric and achieve a 90% success rate. The 10% margin accounts for patients who may not be able to attend due to timing or other factors. Urgent cases include conditions where treatment is needed on the same day or where delay risks deterioration, for example, a child with a high fever and rash or an elderly patient with sudden confusion.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting highlighted the significance of this policy, noting, “We are fixing the front door to the NHS. Many more patients with urgent needs will be able to get an appointment the day they contact their practice.” He also reassured that support will be provided to practices struggling with implementation rather than punitive measures, emphasizing the sharing of successful approaches. This adjustment follows other recent changes in primary care, such as the rollout of online booking for non-urgent cases, intended to reduce pressure on telephone lines.
The increased funding aligns with the overall NHS budget uplift agreed in last year’s spending review and will push annual spending on GP services close to £14 billion. It is not the first effort to impose waiting time targets; similar measures in 2000 faced criticism for limiting advance bookings. The BMA’s chair of the GPs committee, Dr Katie Bramall, cautioned that the new rules might set unrealistic expectations given the continued workload challenges. She noted that although the number of GPs has grown recently, the patient-to-GP ratio remains significantly higher than it was eight years ago, and many patients report no improvement in services.
Dr Bramall also indicated that the BMA had not been formally consulted about the contract changes and that its GPs committee would meet soon to consider potential challenges to the contract’s imposition. On the patient side, Chris McCann from Healthwatch England welcomed the new contract, stating that it should make it easier for patients to secure appointments and for urgent cases to be prioritized in a healthcare environment many find increasingly difficult to access
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