Most GP care should be face-to-face post-COVID, says RCGP
General practice faces a rebalancing between face-to-face and remote consultations as COVID-19 restrictions ease - and a digital-first approach should not be considered the default choice, the RCGP has warned.
by Nick Bostock
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The Mail on Sunday today launches an urgent campaign to demand that all patients are once again seen face-to-face by their GPs.
Surgeries were ordered by NHS England to move to online and phone consultations at the start of the pandemic, but with the NHS workforce now vaccinated, Covid infections at a low and deaths in single figures, the measures inexplicably remain in place.
The new regime has led to vast swathes of patients feeling all but abandoned by their family doctors, according to more than 1,000 letters and emails received by this newspaper over the past eight months.
GP leaders claim the proportion of appointments being held in person is recovering
If there is one story which encapsulates the distress of families as GPs remain behind closed doors during this pandemic, then this is it. And to health chiefs who continue to insist patients should only be seen face-to-face where absolutely necessary, it should serve as a warning shot: to open up ALL surgeries again, or risk many more families being devastated, just like this…
It was October last year, before the second wave of the pandemic had taken hold, when Elaine Gordon contacted her GP practice in the North West.
Fit and healthy, and in her mid-50s, Elaine rarely bothered her doctor.
A tsunami of work is drowning general practice: GPs speak out about a profession at its limit
Rocketing workloads created by huge backlogs of cases and continuing COVID-19 disruption have left GP teams ‘absolutely exhausted and demoralised’ - with many questioning how long they can work at current levels and fearing a workforce exodus.
by Luke Haynes
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Steve McGregor started having difficulty breathing last March and tried to get a face-to-face appointment in Stoke on Trent. He was told he had terminal lung cancer in November.