Latest GP Patient Survey reflects on the “overstretched” service

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGPs) have commented on the latest Patient Survey which reported on the unsustainable pressure GP surgeries are under

Chair of the RCGPs, Professor Martin Marshall, said:

“It’s never easy to hear patients reporting unsatisfactory experiences of receiving general practice care, or that they are having difficulties accessing our services. Ultimately, GPs, our teams and patients want the same thing – access to high-quality and timely care – and we share patients’ frustrations when this can’t be delivered. This is why we are calling on the government to introduce a bold new plan for general practice.

“GPs and our teams are working flat out to deliver increasingly complex care to the rising numbers of patients that need it. More consultations are consistently being delivered every month than before the pandemic in general practice, with more than 27m delivered in May alone, and over 44% of these on the same day they were booked.

“But while the complexity and intensity of GP workload is ever-growing, numbers of full-time, fully qualified GPs has fallen by 1,737 from September 2015 to May 2022. Put simply, GPs don’t have the time or resources to deliver the type of care they want to deliver for their patients.

“Working at this intensity is unsustainable and it’s taking its toll on GP teams, who are burning out and feeling forced to evaluate their future commitment to general practice. Sadly, this is likely to get worse.

“Given these pressures, it’s remarkable and a testament to hardworking GP teams that over 90% of patients surveyed felt that their needs were met during their consultation, and 93% continue to have confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw.

“Our patients deserve better. We are calling on the government for urgent action to improve patients’ experiences, including investment into IT and booking systems, alongside a new recruitment and retention strategy that allows us to achieve and go beyond the target of 6,000 more GPs. We also need to see a reduction in unnecessary bureaucracy, so that GPs can spend more time delivering care to patients.

“Today’s findings must not be used as an opportunity to denigrate already-demoralised hardworking GPs and our teams, but a wake-up call to government and policy makers to take heed of our campaign asks, and sufficiently support GPs and our teams to deliver safe, timely, and personalised care to all patients.”