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Health services

Although your GP doesn’t need to be your first point of contact if you're feeling unwell, everyone should be registered with a GP. If you're not, you should register with a practice as soon as possible, even if you don't currently have any health problems.

What does a GP do?

What services should i look for in a gp surgery, how do i register with a gp surgery, what if i'm too ill to visit my gp, what if i'm not registered with a gp or i'm away from home, what support can i get if i have a long-term condition.

Your General Practitioner (GP) can give you medical advice, treatment and prescribe medication.

Your GP can also refer you to other healthcare professionals to diagnose or treat specific aspects of your condition. For example, they may refer you to a chiropodist, for a hearing test, or to your local falls prevention service. These other health professionals may visit you at home or hold clinics at a local practice, health centre or hospital.

Your GP practice must allocate everyone a named, accountable GP. This GP will oversee your care and take responsibility for evaluating your current physical and psychological needs. Though this doesn’t mean the named GP is the only doctor at your practice who will or can provide care.

If you're joining a new surgery, ask about the availability of services that may be important to you, such as:

• how the appointment system works
• how far in advance you can book a non-urgent appointment
• extended opening hours
• support for carers
• availability of male and female GPs and nurses
• wheelchair access
• staff who speak languages other than English.

Some surgeries offer a 24-hour online service, which you can use to book appointments with a GP of your choice, cancel appointments, order repeat prescriptions and view your summary care record. Speak to the receptionist to find out what online services your GP surgery offers and how to register for online access.

If you have difficulty finding a practice with space for new patients, contact NHS England – it's their responsibility to find a GP practice for you.

Find out more about online services on the NHS website

You can register with a GP surgery over the phone, online or in person.

You don't need proof of ID to register with a GP, but you may find it helpful to have your passport or birth certificate handy while you're filling in your details.

Find out more about registering with a GP on the NHS website

If you can't visit your GP surgery for medical reasons, you can ask your GP to make a home visit. If possible, try to call your GP in the morning if you think you'll need a visit the same day. Your GP surgery should have accessible information explaining how to request a home visit.

If you need to see your GP but can't make it into the surgery, they must offer a home visit instead. They should factor in how urgent your condition is when arranging a home visit.

Your GP might also be able to give you advice through a telephone or video consultation as an alternative.

You should always be able to see a GP if you need urgent attention. If you become ill while you're away from home or you haven't registered with a GP, you should contact the nearest surgery and ask them to see you.

If you'll be living away from your usual address for up to 3 months, you can register as a temporary patient at a local practice. You'll still be able to remain registered as a patient with the GP where you normally live.

If you have a long-term condition, your GP should help you understand and manage your own care. This may include drawing up a care plan to help you manage your condition on a day-to-day basis and recognise symptoms that you should report to your GP.

It may also include creating an 'information prescription'. This is a collection of information that your GP thinks is helpful to you at that time and will help you understand your condition, as well as ways to prevent any further complications. This can be done with the help of the NHS website, which helps you find reliable sources of information about your condition.

Want more information?

NHS services factsheet (828 KB)

• Find out more about what you can expect from NHS services
• Visit the NHS website
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Last updated: Apr 08 2024

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GP mythbuster 71: Prioritising home visits

It is good practice for GP practices to have systems in place to triage and prioritise home visits.

Since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the need for a home visit should be continue to be carefully assessed. The British Medical Association (BMA) and Royal College of General Practitioners have published COVID-19 Workload Prioritisation Unified Guidance  which explains response levels. The guidance outlines types of work that should be undertaken in primary care, depending on:

• COVID-19 prevalence
• other workload
• workforce factors

The British Medical Association (BMA) has produced a COVID-19 toolkit for GPs and GP practices .

NHS England issued a patient safety alert to raise awareness of the need to have a system in place to assess:

• whether a home visit is clinically necessary , and
• the urgency of need for medical attention.

The alert states that:

"This can be undertaken, for example, by telephoning the patient or carer in advance to gather information to allow for an informed decision to be made on prioritisation according to clinical need. In some cases, the urgency of need will be so great that it will be inappropriate for the patient to wait for a GP home visit and alternative emergency care arrangements will be necessary."

"Many practices will already have systems in place to manage home visits. Where this is the case, consideration should be given to whether a review is required in light of this alert. The review should also consider whether all clinical and non-clinical staff involved in the process are aware of their responsibilities when managing requests for home visits, and if any outstanding training needs exist.”

GPs should also consider whether alternate ways of assessing the patient are appropriate. For example, video call, telephone calls or the use of virtual wards in care homes.

When delegating home visits, the provider must ensure that the Health Care Professional (HCP) has the necessary:

• competence and
• training to deliver the home visit.

The HCP should also receive appropriate supervision and support from the clinical team. Practices should ensure that the person allocated is competent to carry out home visits.

When we inspect

We will expect to see evidence of how the provider has assured themselves of the capability of non-medical HCPs, to whom they delegate home visits. This should include a process of assurance: both on initial delegation of the role and how the HCP’s capability is maintained on an ongoing basis. It should include audit of:

• their clinical decision-making
• prescribing decisions when relevant and
• a system for escalation to a senior clinician when necessary.

We use these regulations when we review if the practice is safe, effective, responsive, caring and well led. This mythbuster relates to:

• Regulation 9 (Person centred care)
• Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment)

It is part of our key lines of enquiry (KLOEs). One of our key questions is whether services are organised so that they meet people’s needs. In particular, KLOEs:

• S2 Managing Risk
• S3 Safe care and treatment
• E3 Staff skills and knowledge
• E4 How staff, teams and services work together
• R1 Person centred care
• R3 Timely access to care and treatment
• WL8 Learning, improvement and innovation .

We may look at how the practice:

• manages and prioritises home visits
• recognises a deteriorating patient
• works with other professionals
• manages care planning, referrals and investigations.

We may also look at:

• the practice’s processes and systems to monitor patient safety through reporting patient safety incidents
• how they learn from these incidents and significant events.

This patient safety alert shows how important it is for GP practice staff to report all patient safety incidents to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS). Lessons can be learned across general practice.

Further information

• GP mythbuster 24: Reporting patient safety incidents to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) for GP practices
• GP mythbuster 66: Advanced nurse practitioners and primary care
• GP mythbuster 100: Online and video consultations and receiving, storing and handling intimate images
• GP mythbuster 102: Pulse oximetry and monitoring vital signs outside the GP practice
• Patient Safety eForm (nrls.nhs.uk)

GP mythbusters

Snippet gp mythbusters rh.

Clearing up some common myths about our inspections of GP and out-of-hours services and sharing agreed guidance to best practice.

See all issues:

• GP mythbusters: listed by key question
• GP mythbusters: full list
• GP mythbusters: recently updated

Preparing for your home visit

Introduction.

The majority of the services we provide are delivered in the community.  Often, this means a nurse, doctor or healthcare professional will make a “home visit” to your home or nursing home to provide you with care and treatment.

Before your home visit appointment

Before your home visit appointment, a member of our staff may phone to speak to you about the home visit appointment, and to answer any questions you may have.

If you were previously in the clinically extremely vulnerable group, please make sure you tell us.

During your home visit, you can expect the nurse, doctor or healthcare professional to:

• comply with the infection control policies that CLCH currently has in place.  This may mean that staff wear face masks depending on the situation and the levels of Covid in the community at the time of your visit. Masks can muffle the words that people use so if staff are wearing one and you do not understand what is being said to you, please make sure you tell the healthcare professional caring for you.  The NHS team can make changes to ensure you can better hear and understand what is being said to you.

Our 'Preparing for your home visit' leaflet

As a home visit patient, you will have received our 'preparing for your home visit' leaflet.  The leaflet is reproduced below - and you can click on the image to download the leaflet.

1.  What is COVID-19?

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is caused by a type of virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As a group of viruses, coronaviruses are common across the world. Typical symptoms of coronavirus include:

• shortness of breath
• a loss of or change in your normal sense of smell or taste

You can find more information at the NHS.uk coronavirus webpage

2. Hand hygiene

Our staff will clean their hands before and after contact with you. We would encourage you to either wash your hands with soap and water or use an alcohol hand rub before and after our staff visit.

3. How does COVID-19 affect your home visit?

We’re doing things a bit differently during this pandemic. This information sets out the changes we’ve made. Please take the time to read this information ahead of our visit to you, so you’re aware of what to expect.

4.  If you are unwell or have symptoms of COVID-19

If you feel unwell and think it might be COVID-19 related, please inform our staff by telephone before they visit your home. If you feel unwell and need advice, contact NHS 111 by ringing freephone 111 or visiting the NHS 111 website  111.nhs.uk You can use the  NHS 111 online tool   You can check your symptoms online via  NHS 111 Covid 19  webpage. If we suspect you have COVID-19 before or during our visit then we may need to rearrange or make alternative arrangements for your care.

5. Face coverings and Personal Protective Equipment

Our staff will wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) based on the level of contact that they have with you. This may include a surgical mask; they may also wear gloves, aprons and possibly a face visor.

6. Home environment

We appreciate you will have your personal items around you within your home. To reduce any risk to you or our staff, we ask you put away any unnecessary items before our staff visit.

Many of our staff are pleased to see your pets. However, we would ask you to put them in a separate space during our visit.

Please ask any household members not involved with your care to leave the room before our staff arrive; they can re-enter when we leave your home.

7. Waste 

waste can be discarded into the normal household waste unless a clinical waste collection has been organised by staff. Some of our staff may take the clinical waste with them as they have a safe method to do this. 

By working together we can make it safer for you and our staff

Covid-19 checklist

Our staff may ask you questions using the following Covid-19 checklist.

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NHS Digital publishes new primary care statistics: statistical press release

NHS Digital must be credited as the source of these figures. Regional data is available in this report.

NHS Digital publishes new data

Appointments in General Practice contains data about appointments that took place in general practice in England from August to October 2022. The report includes details about the type of healthcare professionals appointments took place with, the appointment mode, and time between booking an appointment and attending.

The experimental data is designed to provide an insight into the activity and usage of GP appointments and how primary care is impacted by seasonal pressures, such as winter. Supporting information and data quality guidance will be provided alongside the statistics.

Statistics are provided at national and Integrated Care Board level, and for the first time, data broken down by individual GP practices is also included. 1

Read the full report : Appointments in General Practice

Also published today is the NHS Payments to General Practice, England 2021-22 annual report, which details payments to providers of general practice services by the NHS over the past financial year.

It includes a breakdown of payments made through the Global Sum 2 , Balance of Primary Medical Services (PMS) expenditure 3 , Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) 4  and Enhanced Services 5 , including an estimate of how much the NHS paid per registered patient in England 5,6 .

Also included in the report are payments to Primary Care Networks (PCN) 7  and COVID-19 payments 8 .

Payments to 6,808 general practice service providers in England are covered by the publication. The data is reported at individual practice, Clinical Commissioning Group, regional and national level.

Read the full report: NHS Payments to General Practice England, 2021/22

Data on Written Complaints in the NHS is also published today and provides a count of written complaints made by or on behalf of patients about NHS services in England.

This annual publication includes data for complaints about NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (secondary care), as well as complaints about General Practices and dental services (primary care) for 2021-22.

Read the full report: Data on Written Complaints in the NHS, 2021-22

The regular monthly General Practice Workforce data is also out today, which provides a snapshot of the primary care general practice workforce. 

Read the full report : General Practice Workforce, 31 October 2022 .

Notes for editors

This publication was launched in the Government's Our Plan for Patients , which sets out priorities for health and care, delivered across 4 key areas including ambulances, backlogs, care, and doctors and dentists.

Global Sum is the main payment to practices and is based upon each practice’s registered patient list which is adjusted according to the Carr-Hill Formula to take into consideration differences in the age and sex of the patients as well as any in nursing or residential care, additional patient needs due to medical conditions, patient turnover and unavoidable costs based upon rurality and staff market forces for the area.

Primary Medical Services contracts are locally negotiated, but Balance of Primary Medical Services (PMS) expenditure payments are similar to Global Sum and Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) in General Medical Services payments.

Total QOF Payments is comprised of Quality Aspiration Payments and Quality Achievement Payments. Aspiration Payments are a part payment in advance in respect of achievement under the  Quality and Outcomes Framework .

Average payment per patient amounts are not representative of the amount of funding available to spend on direct patient care. Average payments per patient at GP practice, CCG, region or national level should be treated with caution as some patients may be double-counted – for example due to practice closure – while conversely no information relating to patient list size is known for 108 practices.

Average payment per patient amounts should not be compared with those presented in previous editions of this publication due to a change in methodology in 2019, although revised figures at England level for 2016/17 and 2017/18 have been calculated and are presented in the accompanying web page at  https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-payments-to-general-practice/england-2019-20 .

PCN Participation payments, which relate to all practices taking up membership of a PCN, are included in all tables, averages and totals. Total payments and average payments per patient figures have been calculated both including and excluding payments to six categories which relate only to Primary Care Network (PCN) lead organisations - PCN Leadership, PCN Support, PCN Workforce, PCN Care Home Premium, PCN Extended Hours Access and PCN Impact and Investment Fund. Payments to these categories are provided as a total in Table 2 and have not been included in Table 3 but are presented at PCN and CCG level in Table 4.  In this report there are seven separate PCN categories: PCN Participation, PCN Leadership, PCN Support, PCN Workforce, PCN Care Home Premium, PCN Extended Hours Access, PCN Impact and Investment Fund.

The pandemic affected the way General Practice operated in 2021/22 and placed additional responsibilities on GP practices for which they received additional payments. The report also includes three additional categories for COVID-19 related payments, COVID-19 Support and Expansion COVID-19 Immunisation and long covid. COVID-19 support, and expansion payments covered the additional costs incurred by General Practice due to COVID-19, for example, additional staff costs to cover sick leave, additional care home visits and personal protective equipment. COVID-19 immunisation payments covered the additional costs incurred to support the co-ordination and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccination programme and the long covid enhanced service provides ongoing assessment, support and management of patients with long term symptoms of COVID-19.

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Last edited: 28 November 2022 3:46 pm

'The only cure is a Labour government': Tory MP and doctor Dan Poulter defects over NHS 'chaos'

Former health minister Dan Poulter said "chaos" in the NHS has led him to defect to Labour from the Conservative Party. The part-time GP said the Conservatives had become "a nationalist party of the right".

Sunday 28 April 2024 03:41, UK

Conservative MP and former health minister Dan Poulter has defected to Labour in frustration at the worsening NHS crisis.

The MP for Suffolk Central and Ipswich North, with a majority of 23,391 at the last election, has indicated he is not planning to stand at the next general election .

The defection was revealed in an article on The Observer website, in which he said working as a mental health doctor in a busy hospital A&E over the past year had shown him how desperate the NHS situation had become.

"Working on the frontline of a health service under great strain left me at times, as an MP, struggling to look my NHS colleagues, my patients and my constituents in the eye," he said.

He recalled seriously ill patients suffering long waits for treatment often hundreds of miles from their homes, adding that the "chaos of today's fragmented patchwork of community addiction services" had put more pressure on already-stretched A&Es.

"The mental toll of a service stretched close to breaking point is not confined to patients and their families. It also weighs heavily on my NHS colleagues who are unable to deliver the right care in a system that simply no longer works for our patients."

He said he had resigned from the Conservative Party to focus on his work as a doctor and to support Keir Starmer.

More on Conservatives

Rishi Sunak does not rule out July general election - but insists 'there'll be a clear choice' when it comes

Dan Poulter defection: Stop the boats? Rishi Sunak needs to stop the rot in the Conservative party

Adam Boulton: Tories trying to open election divide over defence, but Sir Keir Starmer says he is not Jeremy 'Stop the War' Corbyn

Related Topics:

• Conservatives

"I can well remember when I first qualified as a doctor and began working in the NHS in 2006. At the time, patient care had been radically improved and transformed by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's Labour governments, following many years of Conservative neglect and under-investment.

"...I have come to the conclusion that, once again, the only cure is a Labour government."

Dr Poulter criticised the Tories for "putting the politics of public sector pay ahead of ending strikes with healthcare workers", adding: "Political ideology has been put before pragmatism and meeting the needs of patients, who are the real losers from the strikes".

He also told The Observer the Conservatives had become "a nationalist party of the right" in the last eight years.

"It is not to say all [Tory] MPs are like that," he said.

"There are good MPs, but it feels that the party is ever moving rightwards, ever presenting a more nationalist position."

The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer celebrated the defection on social media, tweeting: "It's time to end the Conservative chaos, turn the page, and get Britain's future back. I'm really pleased that Dan has decided to join us on this journey."

Sky's Jon Craig called the defection a "disastrous blow for the Conservatives and a massive propaganda coup for Labour".

However, two councillors in Dr Poulter's constituency seemed glad to see him go.

Councillor Samantha Murray said in a post on X that the local Conservative Party "have had to carry him for years".

Councillor Ian Fisher posted: "Was campaigning this morning and he didn't even have the decency to tell his hard-working activists in advance. A very self-centered man."

Stop the boats? Sunak needs to stop the rot in the Tory party

Chief political correspondent

Dr Poulter isn't just any backbencher, which is what makes his defection to Labour all the more damaging for the prime minister and the Tory high command.

He's an NHS doctor who's worked in mental health services and was a junior health minister from 2012-15 when David Cameron was prime minister.

Alongside the formidable Mr Streeting, the dashing doctor will be a powerful advocate for Labour on the NHS.

Stop the boats? After the "honeytrap" MP scandal and the fiasco of the "bad people" MP, this calamitous defection from a high-profile and highly-respected MP, Mr Sunak needs to stop the rot in the Conservative Party.

Read more: Stop the boats? Rishi Sunak needs to stop the rot in the Conservative party

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A Conservative Party spokesperson responded to the resignation by saying the news would be "disappointing" for Dr Poulter's constituents.

"Under the Conservatives we are raising NHS funding to a record £165bn a year, helping it recover from the effects of the pandemic and driving forward its first-ever long-term workforce plan so that we train the doctors and nurses we need for the future in our country.

"Thanks to our plan, we have already virtually eliminated the longest waits and overall waiting lists have fallen by 200,000 in the last five months - and we will go further to make sure everyone gets the world-class care they need."

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GP home visits: essential patient care or disposable relic?

Introduction.

The GP home visit has long been regarded as an integral element of NHS general practice that is needed to support both proactive and reactive care to patients in the community. 1 , 2 There are increasing numbers of people living with multimorbidity and frailty, many of whom have complex healthcare needs and limited levels of social support. Now with the new challenges around providing care at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it could be argued that home visits or virtual consultations with patients in their homes are set to become a more essential element of general practice, including in the provision of acute care out of hours. Consulting with patients in their homes provides unique opportunities to develop insights into how illness affects their lives. However, with workloads in NHS primary care rising, and increasing pressures on the GP workforce, the place of home visits in core general practice provision is facing increasing challenge.

GPs DEBATE HOME VISITING

The requirements of the current GP General Medical Services (GMS) contract in relation to home visiting are broad. 3 The contract is not prescriptive about who should visit or where the visit should take place, and states that the decision to visit is dependent on the opinion and agreement of the GP contractor. In November 2019, the Local Medical Committee (LMC) conference debated the current contractual requirements and a motion was narrowly passed to instruct the General Practitioners Committee (GPC) (the negotiating arm of the British Medical Association) to ‘remove the anachronism of home visits from core contract work’ . 4 The majority backed a motion to negotiate a separate acute service for urgent visits.

Reporting of the LMC debate in the national press and social media highlighted how emotive the issue of home visits is, and the diversity of views among GPs that exist around their value. They were described by some as a service that is regarded by patients as an entitlement, available for purposes of convenience. 4 It is likely that GPs working in practices that are short-staffed and overwhelmed by workload pressures are more likely to view home visits as an inefficient use of their scarce resources. Others considered home visits a vital component of general practice, arguing that when patients are unwell at home it is generalist doctors who are best placed to assess them. There were concerns that removing home visits from the GP contract would compromise the values of general practice, sending a message to patients that their doctor no longer cares for those who may have pressing clinical needs but wish to be treated at home.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT GP HOME VISITING?

In a healthcare system where it is expected that contracts are informed by robust evidence-based medicine, the lack of evidence regarding GP home visits, including out of hours, is striking. There has been relatively little research to understand the circumstances in which patients request GP home visits, when and why GPs undertake home visits, and how outcomes can be optimised within a resource-constrained health service. What is known is that over the last 50 years there has been a steady decline in the extent to which GPs visit patients in their homes in the UK and internationally, 2 , 5 , 6 and that not all GPs are convinced of their benefits. 1

Some GP consultations with patients at home are reactive when there is an acute and sudden deterioration in their health, including out of hours. The visiting professional must skilfully balance the risks of continuing care at home against admission to hospital. Others are more proactive, to monitor and plan care for those with long-term health conditions that may prevent them from attending the surgery. Research suggests that GPs do not tend to dispute visit requests for vulnerable, older people. 1 For patients who are dying, there is a positive association between GP home visit rates and achieving home as the preferred place for end-of-life care. 7 GPs who gain experience of home visiting during their training are more likely to undertake home visits post-qualification. 8 GP visits to residential and nursing care homes, and the quality of care delivered, have been described as particular areas of concern. 9 Little is known about responses to other patient groups who may benefit, including: those with mental health concerns; physical disabilities; complex care needs; or those who are unwell with potentially infectious diseases, such as children who may be advised not to attend the GP surgery. Patients appreciate home visits and feel that their relationship with their GP improves as a result. 10

Although GP consultations in patients’ homes are likely to require different consultation skills from those that apply within the surgery setting, the requirements for training in the conduct of GP home visits are ill defined and are largely left for the trainee and their trainer to negotiate. For many trainees, there may be limited opportunity for their home visits to be observed, because of logistical and time constraints. 11 Formative assessment tools (Clinical Observational Tools) for home visits are lacking, and summative assessment of a simulated home visit (within the MRCGP Clinical Skills Assessment) occurs in only half of exams.

Many types of home visit have already been subsumed by other services, such as specialist community teams, early visiting services, and care home teams. Although this can be seen as relieving pressure on overstretched general practice, an unintended consequence is the fragmentation of care associated with multiple specialist teams providing care in the patient’s home. It also calls into question the role of general practice in the management of such complex patients. Obtaining timely information, communicating with each visiting specialist team, and overseeing such care risks adding to the GP workload. 12 As Abrams et al highlight in their realist review of delegated home visiting services in this issue, there is more to be done to understand how such services can be implemented effectively. 13 Research is needed to inform delegation processes, and effective system implementation is needed to support such services and to understand the impact on patient satisfaction, long-term health outcomes, and cost. 13 A pertinent issue is the need for clarity around roles and responsibilities, so that the professional status and autonomy of all involved are understood and valued. This is most likely when trusted professional relationships are developed over time and where the facility to share information effectively exists. 13

‘Good general practice will always consist of patients feeling at home with their doctor and of doctors feeling at home with their patients.’ 12 In the context of burgeoning demand and underfunding of workforce and resources, there is a need to listen to the diversity of views among GPs and primary care colleagues concerning the future of home visits. Robust research is needed to provide understanding into the value of GP consultations in patients’ homes, both through visiting and using telemedicine, and how best to optimise the delivery of primary medical care, particularly for housebound patients, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Increased understanding into the nuances and impact of GP home visits on patient care and the wider healthcare system would form an important evidence base to inform NHS policy and the training and development of the primary care workforce, and is necessary before changes are made to the GP core contract.

Freely submitted; externally peer reviewed.

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Field hockey - Dinamo Elektrostal Moscow

Hockey Club Dinamo Elektrostal is a field hockey team from Russia, based in Moscow. The club was founded in 1994.

Dinamo Elektrostal Moscow - Results

2021/2022 2018/2019 2017/2018 2017 2015/2016 2013/2014 2011/2012 2007/2008

Men's Euro Hockey League - Final Round - 2021/2022

Dinamo elektrostal moscow - identity.

• Official name : Hockey Club Dinamo Elektrostal
• Country : Russia
• Location : Moscow
• Founded : 1994
• Wikipedia link : http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinamo_Elektrostal

Dinamo Elektrostal Moscow - Titles, trophies and places of honor

• Best result : First Round in 2021/2022
• Best result : 1st
• 1 times first in 2010
• 1 times second in 2009
• 1 times third in 2017

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Can Wes Streeting’s private sector plans save the NHS?

Readers weigh up Labour’s plans to use the private health sector to reduce the NHS backlog

Re Wes Streeting’s ambitions ( Wes Streeting defends Labour plan to use private sector to cut NHS backlog, 12 April ), I worked two sessions a week as a GP specialist in endoscopy at our local NHS hospital. Two things were a constant source of irritation. First, the work was poorly remunerated and did not cover my absence from my practice. Second, the lists I worked were sub-optimally organised, with elective outpatient cases mixed with emergency inpatient cases, causing several patients long waits on the day of their endoscopy.

Consequently, myself and colleagues established our own community endoscopy service purely for NHS patients. From the start we offered transnasal gastroscopy, which is relatively new, results in less gagging, and seldom needed sedation. We developed a seamless referral service to secondary care for those who were discovered to have cancer to avoid any delays in assessment and treatment. From the start, our mantra was service, quality and training. It is a fine model of an innovative private service that is offering first-class care to the NHS.

There are those who will never accept a relationship between the private sector and the NHS on ideological grounds. They may like to acknowledge that the current GP model is also essentially based on a private service in that GP partners pay their staff and are themselves remunerated by the profit generated by their practice. In my view, the NHS as it currently stands is unsustainable. It needs help and support from other providers, as long as they all come up to the mark. Dr Mike Cohen Retired GP and GP specialist in gastroenterology, Bristol

Wes Streeting indulging in social class one-upmanship is insulting and dishonest. “ Middle‑class lefties ” is the language of Tory derision and smug populist inverted snobbery. Does he really want to alienate the middle class, or those with left-leaning sensibilities? Does Labour’s eagerness to build an electorally bulletproof facade now require adoption of the Tory lexicon of othering, monstering and alienating?

The fact that Streeting has also employed the meaningless euphemism “ working families ” when, presumably, he is referring to working-class people, hints at an arm’s-length relationship to an allegiance that dare not speak its name. As a Black, putatively middle-class, leftwing man of working-class, immigrant origins and culturally catholic tastes, I see no contradictions in having multiple identities – aren’t we all multilayered? I therefore see no reason why Streeting needs to disown his middle-class, politically left credentials in order to claim working-class authenticity, unless, of course, his is primarily a strategic faux class solidarity. Paul McGilchrist Cromer, Norfolk

I see that Wes Streeting has said that it would be a “betrayal” of working-class people not to farm out more NHS services to the private sector. As a working-class man and lifelong Labour voter, I would say that the betrayal of the working-class is being led by Streeting and the Labour leadership.

Would he consider taking privately owned resources into public ownership? This would be a much better, and in the long term financially better, solution to the current backlog. The NHS’s problems are down to systematic underfunding, privatisation and outsourcing. Labour’s proposals look like good money after bad. Martin Coult London

The reason I can be described as a middle-class lefty rather than a working-class left-behind is that the consensus governments of the 50s, 60s and, yes, the 70s looked after me and opened up an educational path for me. What does Wes Streeting hope to gain from insulting older Labour supporters, who look back and see a fairer society upended by the steady incursion of the private sector into what used to be public? Ominous too to see that Peter Mandelson is back sneering at what many would assume to be core Labour values. Nick Langley Cambridge

This article was amended on 15 April 2024. An editing error led to an earlier version of Paul McGilchrist’s letter saying he had “culturally Catholic tastes”; his original letter used the lower case “catholic”.

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Millions more GP appointments in March than before pandemic

• General practice

GP teams delivered almost 30 million appointments for patients last month (March 2024), up almost a quarter on the same period before the pandemic, new data shows today.

New NHS data published today shows there were around 29.8 million appointments delivered by GPs and their teams in just one month, compared with 24.2 million in March 2019 – an increase of 5.6 million (23.1%).

And on average, thanks to the primary care recovery plan , the NHS is now offering more than 1.4 million GP appointments every working day.

NHS staff continue to exceed ambitions to provide 50 million more appointments by March 2024 with the figures showing that GPs and their teams have delivered an extra 56.3 million appointments (363.6 million excluding Covid vaccinations) or 63.4 million (370.7 million including Covid vaccinations) over the last year compared to 2018/19.

More than nine in ten (95%) of GP practices in England have now upgraded their phone tech thanks to the ambitious blueprint with the move meaning that phone lines can be expanded and won’t ever be engaged. The remaining practices are agreeing dates within the next month for upgrades to happen with tech suppliers.

Every GP practice must offer face to face appointments as well as telephone and online consultations, with some patients choosing remote appointments where it is clinically appropriate and more convenient for them. Today’s data shows almost two-thirds of appointments took place face-to-face (65.4%) in March.

Dr Amanda Doyle, national director for primary care, NHS England said : “Thanks to GPs and their hardworking teams, millions more appointments are being delivered every month compared to before the pandemic with plans in place to improve access even further.

“Every GP practice is upgrading their telephone systems to make it easier for patients to contact their surgery, while patients can use the NHS app to order repeat prescriptions and view their test results without needing to contact their family doctor.

“We know there is more to do to make it easier for patients to access GP services, which is why, building on the successes so far of the primary care access recovery plan we will continue to modernise general practice, expand pharmacy services, and offer patients more choice in how they access care.”

Primary Care Minister Andrea Leadsom said : “Today’s figures clearly demonstrate that more people are getting the care they need, when they need it, thanks to the hard work of our GPs and their teams.

“GPs and their staff have already delivered on a number of pledges – including exceeding the target of 50 million additional general practice appointments per year, several months ahead of schedule – and through the measures in the Primary Care Recovery Plan, the NHS and primary care staff are freeing up millions of extra appointments per year and making it easier for patients to access the care they need.

“We remain committed to making our healthcare system faster, simpler and fairer for all patients so that everyone who needs an appointment is able to get one.”

Hundreds of thousands more people a month will have the option to refer themselves for key services such as help with incontinence, podiatry, or hearing tests without needing to see a GP, as part of the NHS primary care access recovery plan.

Around 180,000 more people a month will be able to self-refer for additional services such as incontinence support or community nursing without seeing their GP, so family doctors’ time can be freed up to focus on delivering care to people who need it most.

Across NHS services, around 200,000 people a month already self-refer themselves for treatment for podiatry, audiology, and physiotherapy but local services will now be able to expand the option of self-referral to other key services based on the needs of their population.

All data can be found here: Appointments in General Practice – NHS England Digital

View your GP health record

Your GP health record includes information about the care you've had from your GP surgery.

When you view your record online, you may only see information that was added recently. If you need to see older information, you'll have to ask your GP surgery to make it visible.

What's not in your GP record

information kept by other services (such as hospitals, dentists and opticians) that has not been sent to your GP – to get this information, you'll need to contact these services directly

How to see all the information in your GP health record

When you view your GP health record online, you should be able to see any information that was added recently.

If you need to see older information in your record (historic record information), you'll have to ask your GP surgery to make it available online.

You can either:

• email or call your GP surgery and tell them you want to see historical information in your online GP health record
• mention it to a receptionist at the surgery when you go for your next appointment

Let your GP surgery know if you only need access to something specific in your record (such as previous test results). This can be quicker than getting access to your full historic record.

The surgery will consider your request and make sure there are no issues with making the information available to you (for example, if it could put you or someone else at risk of harm). This can take a few weeks.

If there are no issues with making this information available, you'll be able to see it when you view your GP record online.

View your GP health record using your NHS App or account

You can view your GP health record using the NHS App or by logging into your account on the NHS website.

You can create an account if you do not already have one.

To view your GP record online, you must be:

• registered with a GP surgery
• aged 16 or over

When you create an account, you'll need to prove your identity before you can view your GP health record. This helps keep your record secure.

Use other GP online services and apps

You may be able to use other GP online services and apps to view your GP record.

Some services and apps are only available in certain areas. Ask your GP surgery which you can use.

Contact your GP surgery

You can ask for your GP record at your GP surgery. They can give you a printed copy of your record or send you a digital version.

Viewing someone else's GP health record

Find out about accessing someone else's medical records

Non-urgent advice: Contact your GP surgery if:

• you're unable to see your record
• information is missing or has disappeared from your record
• you can only see very recent information in your record and you need to see older information
• there's incorrect information in your record
• you can see information that should not be there (for example, you can see information that's not yours)
• you do not want to be able to see your record
• someone is pressuring you for information in your record

Email or call the surgery, or speak to a receptionist at the surgery when you go for your next appointment.

Page last reviewed: 8 November 2023 Next review due: 8 November 2026