Face-to-face GP appointments starting to increase again
GPs delivered a higher rate of face-to-face appointments last month, new figures show.
But patients in the region were still much less likely to see their doctor in person than in August last year.
The Royal College of GPs said it does not want to see general practice become “totally, or even mostly” remote after the pandemic, but warned it is still necessary to stop the spread of Covid-19 as the country prepares for a predicted second wave.
NHS Digital data shows patients booked 103,998 appointments with practices in the NHS Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area in August – 54 per cent of which involved a face-to-face meeting. But the figures were still well below the 91 per cent in the same month last year.
In the Walsall CCG area, 97,225 appointments were made in August, where 54 per cent of the appointments involved a face-to-face meeting – below the 89 per cent in August 2019. The data shows patients booked 76,866 appointments with practices in the Wolverhampton CCG area in August – 52 per cent of which involved a face-to-face meeting. It was down from 94 per cent in the same month last year.
While in the Stafford CCG area, 50,200 appointments were made at GP practices, with 50 per cent of the appointments involving a face-to-face meeting.
The figure was still well below 86 per cent in the same month in 2019. The NHS Digital data shows patients booked 43,632 appointments with practices in the Cannock Chase CCG area in August – 48 per cent of which involved a face-to-face meeting. It was down from 93 per cent in the same month last year. And in the Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG area, 187,814 appointments were booked – with 44 per cent involving a face-to-face meeting. The figure was well below 82 per cent for the same month last year. It was a similar picture across England as a whole, where just over half the appointments made in August were face-to-face – down from 81 per cent a year earlier.
Masood Ahmed, chief medical officer at the Black Country and West Birmingham CCGs, said: “Local insight shows that our practices are offering the same amount of appointments as before the pandemic, but they are just being delivered in a different way.”
Dr Paddy Hannigan, chairman of Stafford and Surrounds CCG, added: “GP surgeries are offering patients the most appropriate appointment, including telephone and video consultations.”
