Warrington CCG welcomes Government winter GP access fund

The NHS is ploughing millions of pounds into a new package of measures aimed at improving access to GPs.

But practices which fail to provide an ‘appropriate’ level of face-to-face appointments will not be eligible for the new funding and will be ‘named and shamed’ in league tables.

It comes as figures reveal that less than three quarters of GP appointments in the town were held face-to-face after major steps to ease coronavirus restrictions went ahead.

Data from NHS England shows 87,043 GP appointments were made in August within the NHS Warrington CCG area, 71 per cent of which involved a face-to-face meeting.

That was up slightly from 69 per cent in June, but a significant drop from 88 per cent in June 2019.

NHS England issued guidance to GP practices in May urging them to offer more face-to-face appointments.

Analysis of different NHS Digital data also revealed that patients looking to book a GP appointment in Warrington are typically forced to wait 10 days before seeing them – significantly longer than the national average of seven days.

The study found that 26 per cent of Warrington residents had to contact their medical practice several times before they could book an appointment, as there were not any bookable slots left or they could not get through to reception staff.

On average, it took them 4.1 days to get booked in, and then there was an average additional wait of 5.8 days before the appointment took place.

Unveiling its £250million winter access fund, NHS England said the measures will enable GP practices to improve availability and increase the number of face-to-face appointments and same-day care.

Winter funding to improve face-to-face GP appointment access welcomed in Warrington (Image: PA)

A blueprint for improving access states that the NHS said GP practices must ‘respect preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary’.

GP appointment data will be published at practice level by spring, so people will be able to see how well their surgery performs compared to others.

The funding will help upgrade GP surgery telephone systems – which will hopefully drive down long waits on the phone.

Following the announcement, a spokesman for NHS Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group said GP surgery staff are working tirelessly to offer care to those that need it.

They said: “As a CCG, we welcome the Warrington share of additional funding from NHS England to support GPs and their patients as surgeries continue to work through their busiest ever period.

“Practice staff are working harder than ever to make sure patients continue to get the care when and where they need it, while continuing to work in line with Covid guidelines.

“In August, GP practices made 87,043 appointments, with 71 per cent of patients being seen face-to-face at the surgery or at home, while 28 per cent of patients had an appointment by video or phone.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our patients for working with us throughout the pandemic and for their continued kindness, understanding and support when using our services.”

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS in England, added: “Improving access to high quality general practice is essential for our patients and for the rest of the NHS too.

“It is a personal priority, and NHS England is taking both urgent and longer-term action to back GPs and their teams with additional investment and support.”