More than two-fifths of GPs in England are limiting appointments, a survey suggests.
A survey by The Pulse magazine found that 41 per cent of 660 practices are limiting patient contacts to 25 per GP per day, coming after GPs overwhelmingly voted in favor of the action collective in the summer.
The British Medical Association (BMA) published a list of ten actions that surgeries should consider, including limiting the patients seen each day or refusing to carry out work for which GPs are not formally contracted.
The Pulse survey suggests that about 70 percent of practices are taking some form of action, with 59 percent reporting they have reduced services since the Aug. 1 vote.
About 11 percent said they had made cuts before the result was announced on August 1. Another 7 percent said in the survey that they would not participate in the class action.
More than two-fifths of GPs in England limit appointments, survey suggests (File image)
A survey by The Pulse magazine found that 41 per cent of 660 practices limit patient contacts to 25 per GP per day (File image)
42 per cent of respondents said in the survey that they had stopped rationing referrals, investigations and admissions, while 13 per cent are still considering what actions the BMA recommends taking.
Family doctors warned that the class action could last for months.
The figures come during a dispute over the new GP contract, which will give services a 1.9 per cent funding rise by 2024/25 – a move the BMA says will leave many surgeries in financial difficulty .
GPs launched a formal dispute over the issue in April after a referendum carried out by the union found that 99 per cent of 19,000 GPs rejected the contract.
They also expressed concern about the impact of the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions introduced in the autumn budget.
Following Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ announcement last week, the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) said it had contacted Health Secretary Wes Streeting for assurances that practices will be protected like “the rest of the NHS and the public sector.”
Dr Steve Taylor, spokesperson for the UK Doctors’ Association, told Pulse: “Given that the current contract does not cover costs and increases costs contributed by the current government in the form of national insurance and staff costs, it is ‘vital that the Government is making funding available now to ensure that GPs can continue to provide the services they need to patients.’
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS is broken and the Secretary of State has been clear that he wants to work with doctors to get it back up and working for patients and staff.”
‘We have made difficult decisions to lay the groundwork so that a £22 billion boost for the NHS and social care can be announced in the Budget.
“This government has committed to recruiting more than 1,000 newly qualified GPs by reducing bureaucracy so patients can receive the care they need and NHS England is working to address training delays to ensure the health service have enough staff for the future.