GP surgeries in crisis as thousands miss appointments

Jan 29 2008 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

THOUSANDS of missed doctors’ appointments across Mersey-side are reducing patient access to services and jeopardising NHS efficiency, GPs warned last night.

Some city surgeries are reach-ing breaking point, it is feared.

Liverpool Local Medical Committee and the British Medical Association have confirmed missing appointments is prevalent throughout Merseyside, and want to raise awareness of the serious effect it is having on services.

Dr George Cook, partner at Grassendale Medical practice, in Liverpool, said the number of patients missing appointments is a growing problem, which “makes a mockery” of Government plans to increase surgery opening hours.

The GP estimates 3,000 appointments were missed at his surgery alone last year.

And Dr Ernst Buhrs says

patients at his surgery, Stoneycroft Medical Centre, in Old Swan, are complaining they cannot get appointments when they are ill – because around 100 a month are missed by other patients.

He said: “We are getting complaints from people who need an appointment and cannot get one, but then as a GP I may be sat in my surgery without any patients for a whole morning, because those with appointments have failed to turn up or let us know they cannot make it.”

Dr Cook said: “I just do not know what to do about this problem. Some mornings, all patients who have appointments will fail to turn up, and one day last week I had 16 appointments booked and only seven people came.

“But it is the unpredictab- ility of it that is the difficult thing. One day, only half the patients turn up, the next every appointment will be fine, so you cannot double time slots up.

“It just shows how much of a joke the Government’s plans are for extended opening hours.

“How will opening a bit later or earlier make any difference? People will miss their appointments at the same rate throughout the day and more time will be wasted.”

Dr Cook’s surgery opens at 8am to allow people to make an appointment before work, but the Government has specified the centre needs to open for a further four hours outside normal surgery times.

“It is a meaningless target. I can see that for surgeries based in London’s commut-er belt it is an issue, because people leave home earlier in the morning,” he said.

“But, where we are based, it is not a problem. Blanket legislation is not the answer.

“What we need is money spent on making people more aware about the importance of keeping their appointments, then the service will be far more efficient.”

The Department of Health argues patients want longer opening hours, a view supported by The Patients Association.

Former North West regional director for public health John Ashton, from Woolton, thinks the need for extended opening hours is real in the area.

He said: “We need to look carefully at whether people are missing appointments and why, and then get some proper statistical data.

“In the political context, GPs do not want to extend their hours, despite the fact a large section of the public wants them to.

“GPs are small businesses and should therefore be prepared to work at the weekends and into evenings.

“We should not let a political campaign bounce us in the absence of evidence. Improved access is important to the health of the nation.”

But secretary of the Local Medical Association, Rob Barnett, added: “Patients say they cannot get seen by a doctor, but when they get an appointment, many people don’t turn up. This issue needs to be addressed.”

OPINION: PAGE 10

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