Video: ‘We are not luddites in general practice’ – Panel debate highlights access safety concerns
The ongoing dispute around the online access changes in general practice has seen the health secretary brand some practices as ‘laggards’. Wes Streeting made the claim in September, calling for some practices to ‘get with the 21st century’. At the end of last month, he (almost) reiterated his criticism, claiming that certain practices are ‘lagging’.
This idea that GPs are unwilling to embrace technological changes came under scrutiny at a panel discussion held by Pulse, its publishers Cogora and the Rebuild General Practice campaign. The event was held at a fringe event at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on 29 September.
It marked the launch of Pulse and Cogora’s latest white paper, on access to general practice, which involved surveys of over 2,000 general practice staff, interviews with more than 120 and analysis of hundreds of pieces of data on every practice in England.
The panel was chaired by Pulse editor in chief Jaimie Kaffash, who wrote the paper, with members comprising: BMA GP Committee (England) deputy chair Dr Samira Anane; Londonwide LMCs chief executive Dr Lisa Harrod-Rothwell; GP and Labour MP for Stroud Dr Simon Opher; and Rosie Beacon, Head of Health at Re:State.
If you want to watch the full panel discussion, scroll to the bottom of the page. But, if you would rather just see the highlights, we have all the clips below.
The lively discussion kicked off around the use of AI, with Ms Beacon stating that AI could go beyond administrative tasks and take on triaging in general practice for low complexity patients
However, other members disagreed with this outlook, arguing that GPs have a specific skillset to oversee triage that cannot be replicated by AI. Any attempts to introduce any form of AI will have to be vigorously tested beforehand, said Dr Anane.
With the 1 October changes looming large, the discussion quickly focused on safety concerns around practices having to enable online consultations throughout core hours. Again, Dr Anane made the point that urgent cases reported through online consultations carried major safety risks, especially when patients were including their symptoms in the free text box.
The panel moved onto discussing the contents of the Pulse/Cogora white paper. The paper argued that there needed to be a change in how we approach access, and that efforts to name and shame practices that were unable to offer high levels of access failed to take into account the particular challenges they face. This was a point emphasised by Dr Harrod-Rothwell.
But, as is often the case, the solution to access issues is the most obvious – but one that is very unlikely to be implemented. That is, more funding. This was a point articulated particularly well by Dr Opher:
The full 45-minute discussion provided great insight into access issues in general practice, from a variety of viewpoints. Here is the full video:
If you want to read the Access All Areas report, click here to download the full whitepaper. GPs can download it for free.
Commercial partner of this white paper: General Practice Solutions
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READERS' COMMENTS [3]
Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles
Nothing wrong with being a Luddite. They recognised that wealth and power was going to become concentrated in the hands of the few and the average person would face increasing exploitation. Sound familiar?
A good outline of access and technology issues from the panel. To be honest, I’m guessing that Rosie Beacon, with a History degree, a record at Morgan Stanley, Tony Blair Institute, and Reform ‘think tank’ is notable as a vested commercial interest, rather than as someone who has the faintest knowledge or experience of the complexity of Medicine or patient triage. Actually, having read Rosie Beacon’s co-authored Reform: ‘Why the NHS Needs to be Completely Dismantled and Rebuilt in our US Sponsors’ Image’ (“Hospital of the Future”), I don’t need to guess. Reform, along with TBI, are catapulting themselves into the media’s, to promote their financially interested hype of the future.
One thing is sure, it is not about what’s good for patients or the NHS, about which Reform/TBI appear to have very little idea. Much of this Reform paper is either wrong, mis-representative, or tendentiously presented as inevitable truth.
PS Watch out for ‘Passport Innovation’ and ‘Accelerators’, which are set to make peer review a has-been and NHS technology analysts redundant. The future of the NHS is looking like a consultancy’s wet dream and a patient’s nightmare.
Having Rosie Beacon/TBI on the panel? – bit like hens inviting Foxy to a discussion whether to leave the coop door open 🙄