All GP patients in England will be offered an appointment within two weeks under plans to improve access to care this winter, Health Secretary Therese Coffey will announce.
As part of her “Plan for Patients” set to be unveiled in the House of Commons on Thursday, Ms Coffey will vow to free up one million appointments per year by employing extra surgery staff to ease the burden on GPs.
New telephone systems will be rolled out from November to ensure patients are not cut off if there is no-one available to take their call, while more phone lines will be opened to prevent the daily 8am scramble for appointments.
Practices will also publish appointments data for the first time, allowing patients to see how their GP practice is performing compared to other local surgeries.
NHS Digital figures show that 15 per cent – 3.9 million – of the 25.9 million GP appointments made in England in August occurred at least two weeks after the appointment was made.
The plan will also include changing funding rules to recruit extra support staff for GPs, including GP assistants and more advanced nurse practitioners. It is not clear how much money will be made available.
Health officials believe that 1.2 million appointments each year can be handled by surgery staff.
GP assistants carry out administrative tasks and can also carry out basic clinical duties, while advanced nurse practitioners are registered nurses with extra qualifications who can help treat patients.
Pharmacists will be given new responsibilities to manage and supply more prescriptions such as contraception, Ms Coffey will say. Officials believe this could free up a further two million appointments every year.
She will also call on the one million volunteers who stepped up during the Covid pandemic to come forward again as part of a “national endeavour” to support the health and social care system.
The plans were criticised by doctors, who accused Ms Coffey of adding to the pressures faced by GPs.
The Royal College of GPs said the proposals would have “minimal impact” on the care patients receive and only “lumber a struggling service with more expectations without a plan as to how to deliver them”.
Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said the Health Secretary had not consulted the College and its members before making the announcement.
“GPs share patients’ frustrations when we cannot deliver the care we want to deliver in a timely way but we are caring for an increasing number of patients, with increasingly complex health needs, and carrying out more consultations every month than before the pandemic – yet with fewer qualified, full-time equivalent GPs than in 2015,” Prof Marshall added.
He said league tables “do not work in improving access or standards of care”.
Ms Coffey’s Commons statement comes as the health service faces a crisis on a number of fronts, with 6.8 million Britons waiting for routine hospital treatment and record waits in A&E.
The number of GPs leaving the industry has also increased in recent years, with research published by the Health Foundation suggesting the NHS could lose up to 8,800 full-time GPs by 2030 if current trends continue.
Earlier this month, Ms Coffey stressed that her top four priorities for the NHS were “A, B, C, D – ambulances, backlogs, care, doctors and dentists”.
Ms Coffey is expected to say: “I will put a laser-like focus on the needs of patients, making their priorities my priorities and being a champion for them on the issues that affect them most.
“Our Plan for Patients will make it easier to get a general practice appointment and we will work tirelessly to deliver that, alongside supporting our hardworking GP teams.
“We know this winter will be tough and this is just the first step in our work to bolster our valued NHS and social care services so people can get the care they need.”
Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: “I know how much patients value timely, convenient access to GPs and primary care, the front door to the NHS, which is why we are continuing to drive improvements, including new roles to better meet patients’ needs and new tech to make contacting your local surgery easier.”
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “The Conservatives have failed to provide the doctors and nurses needed to treat patients on time, and patients are paying the price in record long waiting times.”
