GPs have raised concerns about new access plans set out by the Health Secretary.

Therese Coffey, whose plans include banning waits of more than two weeks for non-urgent appointments, is being criticised for not consulting on her new proposals before announcing them yesterday.

Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “It’s a shame that the Health Secretary didn’t talk to the college and to our members on the front line before making her announcement because we could have informed her of what is really needed to ensure a GP service that meets the needs of patients and is fit for the future.

"Lumbering a struggling service with more expectations, without a plan as to how to deliver them, will only serve to add to the intense workload and workforce pressures GPs and our teams are facing, whilst having minimal impact on the care our patients receive.

"Access to our services is important, but it is only a starting point to ensuring our patients receive the safe, personalised and appropriate care they need."

He said that 85% of appointments already occur within two weeks, and 44% are delivered on the same day that the patient requests one.

Other points that the Health Secretary has announced include plans to recruit more GP surgery staff to free up time for doctors, new data tables for patients to compare their GP practice to other surgeries, and a new telephone system to ease the struggle to reach surgeries at 8am.

'We have the highest number of patients per GP registered in the whole of England, which is worrying...'

Dr Jack Jacobs, Ashford GP and medical director for Kent and Medway Local Medical Committee, believes the plans are not the way to solve the strain on GP services.

He said: "All GPs know that there are significant issues out there, but we are struggling to meet the demands put upon us at times, despite working very hard. Practices are busy, they're working hard, and as other GPs have suggested, setting arbitrary targets to see everyone in two weeks is not necessarily, we feel, the way to resolve some of the issues."

Dr Jacobs said that in June of this year alone, there were 800,000 GP appointment contacts with surgeries in Kent and Medway, which is equivalent to 40% of the Kent and Medway population.

He added that the additional responsibilities falling on GPs, such as chasing up hospital appointments and results for patients on waiting lists, take up a large portion of their time.

He said: "That is approximately a fifth of my work at the moment. Without that we would have more capacity.

"If a patient is waiting on a waiting list for a scan result or a procedure, they should be able to contact the hospital they're waiting at and they should be able to support them, not necessarily going to us."

Dr Jacobs also says that GPs are often "quite literally snowed under" with "bureaucracy" and administrative work, and regulations have grown and become more complex in the past few years.

He said: "We have to do it, and if we're doing that, we can't really be seeing patients at the same time."

In Therese Coffey's plans, it is proposed that more GP surgery staff should be recruited to free up time for doctors.

Dr Jacobs agreed that the shortage of GP staff is a concern, but pointed out that after becoming a doctor, it takes at least three years to become a GP, and sometimes even as long as five or six years.

'We want to help, that's what we're doing this for. But the demand has overwhelmed the system...'

He said: "Workforce is the absolute key to this. We know that there are problems recruiting GPs across the whole of England, and unfortunately Kent and Medway are right at the bottom of the list. We have the highest number of patients per GP registered in the whole of England, which is worrying.

"We're working really hard to support the training hubs, that are local organisations to help recruit and train doctors to become GPs. I'm a GP trainer and it means I have to spend some of my time supervising and training doctors to become GPs, so I'm less available.

"But it takes time. It's not something that happens overnight. You have to invest in that. I can't see much of this happening over the winter, it's too little too late, to be honest."

Dr Jacobs also said the strain on GP resources is having an impact on staff. He said: "GPs and their staff, we do the job because we want to look after and care for people and when we can't it's very stressful for us.

"We've had lots of turnovers of staff because the stress levels have been rising, we have problems of GP numbers because they're choosing to work less because they're finding that work environment really stressful, or they're choosing to retire earlier than they could do.

"We want to help, that's what we're doing this for. But the demand has overwhelmed the system, and this has been a while coming. We have been warning about this for years before the pandemic.

"The numbers of healthcare professionals and managing staff and admin staff and reception staff in general practices were not enough and they needed investment."