- GP delays hit record levels
- A&E visits surge
- NHS struggles with workforce
According to new data, millions of Britons are waiting over a month to see their primary care physician, with many patients opting to go to A&E or abandoning their visits altogether as delays reach all-time highs.
In the initial ten months of this year, an investigation by The Times revealed that 14.9 million scheduled appointments were rescheduled for dates beyond 28 days.
This amount is expected to surpass the previous year’s 12.8 million delays and the 2019 record of 15.2 million.
One in thirteen appointments (2.6 million) were missed after 28 days.
Approximately one million more are present than in the corresponding month before the pandemic, whereas 700,000 more are present than in October 2022.
There were 28,000 needless deaths from January to June this year, with the biggest increase among those 50–64. Many were succumbing to preventable illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Private Health Demand Surges as GP Crisis Intensifies
Private health insurers have also documented increased demand for GP appointments. Vitality reported that private healthcare consultations accounted for 40% of claims, up from 4% in 2015.
Spire Healthcare reported that its network of private general practitioners conducted 41% more consultations than the previous year.
Experts have attributed the GP appointment crisis to a growing population and a declining workforce.
A considerable number of family physicians are opting to retire in their fifties, relocate internationally, or transition to the private sector due to grievances regarding excessive workload, bureaucratic red tape, and a harmful work atmosphere.
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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stated that the most recent junior doctor strike, which will see disgruntled employees walk out for nine days in January and the run-up to Christmas, will also affect NHS waiting lists.
He has urged medical professionals paid up to £ 60,000 to “do the right thing” and cancel the industrial action expected to disrupt hospitals during their busiest season.
The NHS waiting list has 7.7 million patients, hundreds of thousands of whom have been waiting for over a year.
In contrast, October’s total is 65,000 fewer than the previous month, indicating that waiting lists are gradually diminishing.
A&E Visits Rise as Patients Face GP Appointment Challenges
This year, the IPPR think tank discovered that approximately one in every eight individuals unable to secure a primary care physician appointment instead visited A&E. This figure has increased from approximately one in every thirteen individuals two years ago.
The Conservative chairman of the Health Select Committee in the House of Commons, Steve Brine, stated that young people prefer online private subscription services to NHS general practice, which has been a “concern for a while.
He questioned whether any measures could be taken to encourage them to return to the conventional system.
According to The Times, Ronald Leslie Harris, a resident of Hereford, committed suicide in June. He had delayed for weeks to see a doctor for mental health issues.
In January, the body of Kaine Carlon, 34, was discovered at his residence. His flatmate disclosed that he was unable to schedule a doctor’s appointment due to undiagnosed type 1 diabetes.
In October, 4.8 million 34.2 million patients were delayed 15–28 days, whereas majority were seen within a week.
The national director of Healthwatch England, Louise Ansari, stated that patients contact the watchdog primarily to schedule GP appointments.
She stated that due to difficulties with lengthy phone lines or online scheduling tools, certain patients “no longer attempt to schedule appointments at all.”
Statistics from NHS England indicate that the waiting list decreased by 0.8% in October.
Nevertheless, the 7.71 million toll remains among the most significant recorded since NHS records commenced in August 2007. An additional 490,000 are expected in October 2022.
Approximately 4.4 million were confined within the system when the pandemic struck the United Kingdom.
NHS Struggles to Meet Wait Time Targets Amidst Challenges
A month ago, 377,122 patients were subjected to wait times of at least one year. This number has decreased marginally to 377,618.
It has been mandated that the NHS eradicate all wait times exceeding one year by March 2025.
As of September, 190 people have been in the wait for nearly two years, down from 227 the month before.
The National Health Service (NHS) was mandated to eradicate two-year waiting periods by July 2022, except for highly complex cases requiring specialised treatment, patients who opted to wait longer, or those unwilling to travel to be seen sooner.
When asked whether the NHS has ‘made progress’ towards reducing the inventory of the longest waiters, Mr Sunak responded that it has “made progress” towards fulfilling the government’s pledge to reduce NHS waiting lists by the end of the year.
Nevertheless, he stated that NHS employees’ industrial action “has made that difficult.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care stated, “We are facilitating patients’ access to and communication with their GP.” Since October 2019, the average number of appointments per working day has increased by 44 in every general practitioner practice.
The government fulfilled its manifesto promise to arrange over 50 million appointments daily.
