Patients can expect to get GP appointment within 2 weeks under radical new plans
PATIENTS can expect to secure a routine GP appointment within a fortnight under radical plans to boost access.
Thérèse Coffey will also pledge that urgent cases – such as sick kids and chest infections - will be seen on the same day.
GPs who fail to deliver will be named and shamed, with a league table of practice wait times published monthly.
In her first major speech, the new Health Secretary will promise to keep a “laser-like focus on the needs of patients”.
The Sun yesterday revealed ministers want to end the "8am scramble" for GP appointments - a major source of frustration for many.
Dr Coffey will aim to make it easier for sick Brits to see a family doctor by freeing-up millions more slots, with the help of extra support staff and pharmacists.
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GP phone systems will also be modernised so people are not forced to repeatedly call back when lines are engaged.
For the first time ever, there will be an expectation that all patients will be seen within two weeks of contacting their practice, and the seriously unwell within hours.
The Health Sec will today set out details of her “Our Plan for Patients” blueprint in the Commons, focusing on "ABCD" - ambulances, backlog, care and doctors and dentists.
Dr 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.
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“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."
Pharmacies will help free-up GPs by doling out more drugs - such as contraception - without a doctor’s prescription.
And Dr Coffey will call on the million-strong volunteers who stepped up during the pandemic to help the NHS once again, by supporting the autumn booster roll-out and other key initiatives.
There are around 26 million GP visits a month in England alone.
Of these, just under half are same day, while 85 per cent of patients are seen within two weeks of contacting their practice.
NHS boss Amanda Pritchard 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.”
It comes as public health expert Prof Azeem Majeed, from Imperial College London, warned the NHS faces one of its toughest winters yet – and needs to boost beds and ditch red tape to cope.
He said: “On a scale of one to ten [with ten being bad], it’s a ten rather than one.”
