A&E pressures not down to GP access

A new study has claimed that rising A&E attendance rates are driven by patients’ long term health conditions, and are not related to lack of GP provision.

A Queen Mary University study, published in the British Journal of General Practice, analysed data from 819,590 GP registered patients in 136 practices in the east London Clinical Commissioning Groups of Newham, Tower Hamlets and City & Hackney and found that having multiple long term health conditions, including asthma, cancer, heart disease or diabetes, was the strongest predictor of emergency department attendance.

Contrary to current opinion, the research argues that the same people who attend their GP surgery regularly also attend their emergency department regularly, largely due to having multiple long term health conditions, both mental and physical, and it is these conditions, along with an ageing population, which are driving the high attendance rates.

Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: "Patients should only use A&E services in a genuine emergency, and GPs and our teams are working incredibly hard to deliver more consultations than ever across the UK, to ensure that remains the case. General practice makes the vast majority of patient contacts in the NHS and by doing so we alleviate pressures on Emergency Departments, we don't add to them – this research backs this up with important new data.

"It is also clear from this research that we need better messaging for the public as to the different medical services available to them, within routine working hours and out, so that our patients know the most appropriate place to turn when they become sick. UK general practice is currently facing intense resource and workforce pressures.

“Our workload has risen at least 16 per cent over the past seven years, but the share of the overall NHS budget we receive is less than it was a decade ago, and the number of GPs has not risen at pace with demand. We urgently need NHS England's GP Forward View, pledging £2.4 billion extra a year and 5,000 more GPs, to be delivered in full, so that we continue to deliver the most cost-effective service in the NHS, and deliver the changing care our patients need and deserve."