‘Without reform, the unsustainable cycle of pressure will continue’ says College Chair

College Chair Kamila Hawthorne featured in the Health Service Journal (HSJ) with supportive comments of a new joint plan from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives to reform urgent and emergency care. Professor Hawthorne, said:

“Winter pressures are being felt intensely, right across the health service – and general practice is no exception. GPs and our teams have been delivering millions of appointments every month, with only a handful more fully-qualified full time GPs than five years ago.

“When general practice is properly resourced, our service can alleviate pressure across the whole of the NHS and provide cost effective care closer to home, where patients want it. With the right time and support we can work with patients to prevent health conditions reaching the point where emergency care is needed. This is why the College has supported the Government’s aspirations to shift more care into the community – but this must be resourced appropriately.

“We need to see the funding uplift for general practice for 2025/26, which has been promised, being delivered and used to build the GP workforce – and we need this to be sustained in future years. We also need to see reductions in unnecessary bureaucracy, so we can spend more time with patients and less time box ticking.

“Without these measures – and others outlined in today’s plan, including the introduction of a national alert system for general practice, so that overwhelmed surgeries can seek support when their workload becomes unsafe - the unsustainable cycle of seasonal pressures will continue and intensify as greater demand is placed on the NHS.”

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.