This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
No GP out-of-hours cover for one in ten areas
A freedom of information request, made by GPs magazine Pulse, has revealed that a lack of out-of-hours cover left some four million patients without seeing their GP last year.
Ten of the providers, covering approximately four million people, admitted that on some occasions last year shifts had been left unfilled, leaving patients with no out-of-hours cover, meaning that, in some situations, they were told to go to A&E.
The investigation highlights what is becoming a ‘worrying trend’ for GP leaders, who say that there are fewer clinicians available, meaning services are often left relying on non-medically qualified urgent health practitioners, nurses and paramedics.
According to Pulse, the five worst hit areas last year were: Peterborough, where there were nine shifts and 230,000 patients were left without access to an out-of-hours GP; Tower Hamlets, where no GP was available on 12 occasions; Doncaster, where nurses and paramedics had to cover a population of 300,000 patients on three occasions, with no GP available by phone on one occasion; The Highlands, which has a population of 340,000, where out-of-hours centres were closed due to lack of staff 31 times. Shifts there had to be covered by centres up to a 30-minute drive away; and in southern and western Northern Ireland, the survey found that one GP regularly had to cover 370,000 patients overnight.
Talking to Pulse, Dr Simon Abrams, a GP in Everton and chair of Urgent Health UK, said: “It is a worrying trend. It can be a last-minute appointment that keeps the service afloat, especially at weekends.
“Additional funding can be required to attract takers and even then there are occasions when rotas are not full. Then, closing urgent care centres or staggering opening times is the only option. This probably impacts more on rural communities where patients are already travelling several miles to see a GP out of hours. Erosion of these services not only raises clinical risk in the community but adds to pressure on A&E.”
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