Over the past few months, I have been raising concerns about the Government's changes to Advice & Guidance - the system that GPs use to refer patients to see a specialist.
Clinicians, patients and I warned that the change to a MANDATORY Single Point of Access system - along with a Government-imposed target for a diversion rate of 1 in 4 patients - would be akin to rationing access to specialist care.
In April I was accused by the then-Health Minister of "peddling conspiracy theories".
This was despite the Government's own analysis (published 17th March) stating "We aim to contribute to a diversion rate of at least 25% by March 2027."
The Minister said it was "misinformation", yet the NHS published a 'clarification' letter in April, stating "there is no national target"...
But now we have evidence appearing which shows the emerging picture from both GPs and Specialist Consultants:
- 26% of referrals 'bounced' back to the GP
- Average wait of 10 days for a response (not the expected 5)
- 36% of returns include tasks which are outside of a GP's remit
- 47% of specialists do not have enough allocated time to respond to A&G requests
- 7 in 10 physicians received requests they believed were 'inappropriate' for A&G route 'including some that require urgent clinical intervention'
Why does this matter?
Well, it means that patients may not be able to see the specialist that they need to.
Worst still, care is being delayed and patients are at risk of serious harm.
The system should be reviewed.
This is just one part in a series of questions surrounding the Government's handling of the NHS following an unprecedented spike in the number of patients being removed from waiting lists and bumper payouts (a £120 million fund) to 'cleanse' the lists - to give the impression they are falling.
The public deserves to know what is actually happening.
Patients do not care about political spin; they care about whether they receive treatment and the quality of the care.
I wrote about this in my June column, which you can read here: https://www.drlukeevans.org.uk/columns/my-work-on-health-policy
