GP practices providing the bottom variety of appointments may very well be named and shamed later as new league tables are launched for the primary time.
Data out on Thursday will element what number of appointments every surgical procedure in England is delivering and the way lengthy it takes to be seen.
The statistics will likely be printed on the NHS Digital web site and Health Secretary Steve Barclay says it’ll “allow patients to make a more informed choice” about which observe they go to.
However, some medical doctors say evaluating surgical procedures is probably not so easy as a consequence of totally different affected person traits.
For instance, a small coastal city with many aged folks might have surgical procedures providing fewer appointments than a busy internal metropolis observe with a youthful inhabitants.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), mentioned there have been “serious concerns” over how helpful comparisons will likely be “as with general practice you’re rarely comparing like with like”.
“What works in one practice may not in another, so they will tailor their services to their patient population,” she mentioned.
“We worry that this data will be used to create arbitrary ‘league tables’ that don’t account for different patient demographics and ways of working and those that appear at the bottom will face undue criticism at a time when the profession is already demoralised and working under intense pressures.
“We additionally perceive that the information printed on Thursday will likely be experimental, so it is unclear how complete or helpful will probably be.”
The launch of the information comes amid issues that not sufficient new GPs are coming by way of to switch these leaving.
Health Education England mentioned on Wednesday that 4,032 trainees received placements this yr, however the RCGP estimates as much as 19,000 present medical doctors might go away within the subsequent 5 years as a consequence of workload pressures.
The prime minister’s appointment letter to the brand new well being secretary additionally reportedly dropped a goal – and Tory manifesto pledge – to recruit 6,000 extra GPs by the top of 2024.
Former well being secretary Sajid Javid admitted this yr that the goal would in all probability not be met as a result of variety of GPs retiring early.
Source: information.sky.com”