The purpose of this campaign
Sometimes Government policy is created with the best of intentions, but ends up with unexpected consequences. When the Government announced that no one should wait more than 48 hours for an appointment with their doctor, they failed to recognise that achieving that target would create perverse outcomes.
Now, far from receiving an appointment with their GP within 48 hours, many people report finding it difficult to get through on the phone to their doctors and when they do, all too frequently there are no appointments left. The caller is simply asked to call back tomorrow.
And there are two consequences whenever this happens:
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The patient doesn't receive their appointment within the 48 hour target.
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The Government still claims that the 48 hour target is being met because statistically speaking no record is kept when someone fails to get an appointment. How could it be when they couldn't get through to the doctors surgery in the first place? These unfortunate patients are simply asked to called back in the future and the 48 hour time limit starts again from the moment they do ring back to book their appointment. Hey presto... the Government's 48 hour target is met in paper, despite the fact that the patient may have waited many days more.
From the Government's point of view this is a winning situation. The Prime Minister is able to stand up at the Despatch Box in the House of Commons and boast that no one has to wait more than 48 hours for an appointment to see their doctor.
But from the patient's perspective the system is far less satisfactory. Callers may spend half an hour on the phone calling a GP surgery between say 8am and 8:30am, only then to be told that there are no further appointments available. They're asked to call back the next day, when the same problem may be experienced. It's a frustrating situation and sadly there's no sign that it's getting any better.
There are thousands of hard working GPs out there who are trying to provide the very best service for their patients, but the Government's approach to booking an appointment with your doctor is skewing the outcome for ordinary people.
Yours sincerely,
Grant Shapps MP
The campaign