Many Islanders might argue the opposite – and have done within the comments sections of this site – but according to NHS figures all patients in the Isle of Wight had some access to out of hours appointments with a doctor at the end of September.
Data gathered from 16 practices within the NHS Isle of Wight CCG during the month showed that 92% of patients, that’s 132,574 people, could book an appointment on Saturday, Sunday or out of hours on a weekday. A further 8% or 11,846 people had access at some of those times.
The national figures for September showed that 94% of patients in England had access to appointments during some extended hours, and 55% of patients had full access.
National picture
Only five clinical commissioning group areas in England recorded seven-day access for all patients at the end of September.
The poorest record was in NHS Liverpool CCG where 59% of patients had no access to extended appointment hours.
Across the country the position has improved since the data was collected, according to NHS England.
A spokesman said:
“This programme has gathered momentum since September with evening and weekend appointments now available to more than 98% of patients. We are well on track to hit the 100% target, originally set for March 2019 but brought forward so more appointments are available this winter.”
Damage to ‘core service’
However, doctors’ leaders have cautioned that the push for extended hours may damage the ‘core service’ they offer in regular hours on weekdays.
The Government says that everyone should have “more convenient access to GP services, including appointments at evening and weekends.”
Ease A&E pressures
NHS England says that the additional capacity will help to ease pressure on doctors and A&E.
Under extended hours, doctors offer appointments on Saturday, Sunday and on weekdays in the early morning and after 6.30pm. In most instances, practices get together to form hubs or federations that provide the service, so patients may not see their usual doctor.
BMA: Money invested “better spent improving core GP services”
Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee chair, said that GPs want to give patients more access to appointments but underfunding and staff shortages made it difficult.
He said:
“Many practices have worked hard to establish extended hours schemes but the phased implementation, as a result of the gradual release of funding over a number of years by NHS England, means that some areas are at an earlier stage of development than others.
“We still believe the money invested in such programmes would be better spent improving core GP services and enable more patients to get an appointment during the daytime when most prefer to see their local GP.
“We know that patients are frustrated with being unable to get timely appointments during regular working hours, owing to increased demand and unmanageable GP workloads, and therefore it is these services that should be priority for proper funding.”
Across England there are 7,015 practices and 6,656 of them provided data.
Article shared by Data Reporter as part of OnTheWight’s collaboration with Press Association and Urbs Media
