On Thursday, NHS data revealed that GP practices delivered 26% more face-to-face appointments in September than the previous month, Pulse reports.
More than 28m consultations were made in general practice in England in September, many on the same day they were requested – some five million more than in August, and over two million more compared with September 2019, before Covid-19.
GP locums made 67% more ‘Instant’ bookings on LocumDeck in September than August, NASGP’s detailed analytics revealed last week, and bookings leapt 300% year on year. The platform also signed up its 2,000th practice in September.
The story follows private talks to resolve the breakdown between doctors and NHS England. On the evening of Wednesday 27th October, NHS England told the BMA there were no longer any plans to publish monthly “league table” data showing what proportion of surgery appointments occur in person or virtually, The Guardian reports.
A BMA spokesperson said: “These are significant concessions from what the government was talking about just two weeks ago, so we will need to give them serious consideration.” The BMA intended to ballot doctors on industrial action following the government’s proposal to publish appointments.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, chair of NASGP, said: “The big takeaway here is that general practice does not need micromanaging. Despite being in the middle of this pandemic’s third wave, 18 months in, with social distancing still very much in evidence in practices, we are now seeing more patients than we did pre-pandemic!
“This extra workload will have an unimaginable impact on our professional wellbeing, so now is also a good time to join up with other local GP locums through networks like chambers for professional support.”
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