GP services under pressure

Posted: March 15, 2016

Posted in: Medical Negligence Negligent Cancer Diagnosis NHS Claims 

Chiefs within the NHS in England and Wales are claiming that patients could be facing potential harm due to their GP’s lack of consulting time. They are claiming that due to time and financial constraints within the health service, patients could become increasingly misdiagnosed or mis-prescribed medicines. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, GP leader of the British Medical Association, has stated that GPs are having to rush through consultations in order to meet targets and has described the situation as potentially dangerous.

68% of GPs found workload increasingly unmanageable

In the online survey that was carried out by the BMA, 55% of respondents in England found that the quality of service provided had taken a turn for the worse in the last year. 68% of GPs stated that they were finding their workload increasingly unmanageable and 92% felt that the demand for their services had increased in the last 12 months.

Dr Nagpaul pointed out that our population is becoming increasingly aged, and, as a result, the medical conditions of patients are becoming more complex, with the prescribing of medication more critical. He stated that GPs “simply don’t have the time” to give adequate attention to diagnosis and treatment.  He said: “…we are seeing growing numbers of patients with dementia – and yet just have 10 minutes to see them”.

According to Dr Nagpaul, in order to bring GP services back into safe levels, at least 10,000 new GPs will have to be recruited in England.

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