Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Bosworth, has welcomed the Primary Care Plan which aims to free up 8 million GP appointments and end the ‘8am rush’ as he calls for cuts in day-to-day bureaucracy in question to Health Secretary, something that has been raised with him by concerned constituents.
The Government’s Primary Care Plan aims to provide more services in pharmacies and on the high street, increasing patient choice and alleviating pressure on GPs. The plan shares the workload, and capitalises on the advancing skills of Pharmacists and other professions in Primary care, a change the MP said is “long overdue.”
The Plan also promises to tackle the ‘8am rush’, which sees many residents told to call back another day for an appointment. Training and the modernisation of systems aims to make it easier for people to contact their GP, get assessed and booked in for appointments that same day if necessary or within two weeks.
Bosworth’s MP, who worked as a GP, has been calling on the Government to make these kind of day-to-day changes, not only to free up clinicians’ time, but to improve patient care and experience.
In a question to the Health Secretary, Dr Evans recalled how “15% of my workload was chasing letters and administration,” and asked him to comment further on how the Primary Care Plan will reduce bureaucracy.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay MP, said plans to cut down on bureaucracy include “Sending reminders through the NHS App, [thus] reducing non-attendance.”
The Plan states that by March 2024, patients in over 90 per cent of practices will be able to see their records (including test results, immunisations and consultation messages), book appointments and order repeat prescriptions using the NHS App.
“We are also looking at the key interface between secondary care and primary care,” continued the Health Secretary, “as well as considering which appointments can be done elsewhere, such as through pharmacies and the additional roles.
“The online booking system can better triage people to the right place, and there will be some self-referral in order to take pressure off GPs—not for things that carry a clinical risk, such as internal bleeding, as the Opposition suggest, but for things like hearing aids. If a person has taken a hearing test, they will not need to clear an appointment for a hearing aid through their GP.”
Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Bosworth, said “Having worked as both a junior doctor and GP, trying to improve the NHS was a driving force to getting into the political arena. I am pleased to see this step in the right direction that improves not only the working life of clinicians delivering care, but makes it easier and better for patients in the process. These kind of changes are the type that will really help to make a difference, and they are relatively simple. I hope to keep pushing for many more like it, but until then, I am pleased the Government have listened to me, my colleagues, patients and the profession to make these sensible improvements.
“I have waited as a patient on the phone, ringing multiple times to try to get through, and I have been on the other side as a GP so I know what it is like dealing with the demand. But it was this same commitment to caring for the community, and seeing the unnecessary bureaucracy, that led me to become your MP. Since then, I’ve sat on the Health Select Committee and called for changes from everything to pension tax – brought in earlier this year and which has had the immediate effect of boosting retention in the sector – to fixing the simple things that would make a clinician’s working life better thus, importantly, improving patient care.
“The Primary Care Plan will make it easier for people to get treatment more quickly and I welcome the record levels of funding (£11.5 billion for General Practice in 2023/24) as part of the Prime Minister’s promise to cut waiting lists.”
