GPs face spending ‘millions’ of appointments a year answering emails under a clause about online access in the new GP contract, GP Online reports.
Face-to-face GP appointments could be pulled as practices spend more time responding to patient requests from online consultation systems.
The new GP contract is due to launch on Wednesday 1 October, and the new clause is still under dispute.
The BMA has announced an audit of its contract negotiation processes after GPs found the clause about online access in the final contract wording earlier this month.
Leaders at the Doctor’s Association have warned that online systems ‘cannot distinguish between non-urgent and urgent patient queries’. Estimates suggest that thousands of hours of GP time could be lost simply through triaging online requests from patients.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “The introduction of this online access clause, which experts warn risks millions of appointments annually and will lead to thousands of hours lost to triaging online requests, poses an immediate threat to the GP workforce.
“This new, unfunded mandate forces practices to choose between essential costs. For GP locums, this compounds the crisis of underemployment, as practices divert money away from hiring them to fund managing the online triage systems.
“Meanwhile, salaried GPs will find their time dangerously absorbed by triaging systems that leaders warn cannot reliably distinguish urgent patient queries. This shift, which pulls capacity away from face-to-face care, prevents us from effectively managing patient risk. We need investment that supports clinical capacity, not burdensome, bureaucratic constraints.”
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