BMA’s GP Committee votes to enter dispute with Government
English GPs will re-enter dispute with Government from 1 October, the BMA has announced.
The BMA will also seek legal advice on the legality of opening up online requests throughout core hours without safeguards, it said.
Also at today’s meeting of the GP Committee for England, the chair put in a confidence vote for the leadership of the GPCE, which was passed.
From 1 October GPs need to keep online systems open for patient requests between 8am and 6.30pm for routine enquiries but the BMA is arguing that because the systems can’t tell the difference between routine and urgent, serious problems could be ‘lost inside the huge haystack of unmet patient need’.
The Government said the BMA had signed up to and GPs had agreed to this policy – however several LMCs had called for the BMA to re-enter dispute over the changes.
GPCE chair Dr Katie Bramall accused the Government of ‘being prepared to risk patient safety, practice workforce wellbeing and GP retention’ over the contract changes – over which she’d previously admitted procedural mistakes.
‘GPs have a track record of being the first to embrace and embed technology in the NHS so long as it’s safe and fit for purpose but imposing such changes on general practice, ignoring our repeated warnings will do the opposite of “bringing back the family doctor”, she said.
‘But all is not lost – we still have time in the coming days for Government to meet us halfway. We will explore all options, but I’m sure our patients and the profession would rather we find a resolution in the coming days. We want to work with the Government in delivering an NHS that we know is safe.’
As Pulse reported last week there had been talk of a no-confidence vote in Dr Bramall over the mistakes in allowing the contract change to apparently be agreed with Government without proper internal scrutiny by the relevant BMA committees.
However no such motion was submitted, and instead Dr Bramall herself put forward a confidence vote in the officer team.
Last weekend, Mr Streeting told the BMA he’s willing to have a discussion about the changes but also called some GPs unwilling to implement core-hours online access ‘laggards’, urging them to ‘get with the 21st century.
Today, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘The shift from analogue to digital is a key part our 10-Year Health Plan to help fix the front door of the NHS and in 2025, patients rightly expect to be able contact their GP online.
‘There are GP surgeries already successfully rolling out online appointment requests, showing it works for patients and practices. The BMA signed up to and agreed this policy with GPs, and we remain committed to wanting to work together to implement this as efficiently as possible.’
Q&A: What the October access changes mean for GP practices
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Silly Billy. Do more work without more money. There needs to be annual funding plus a fee for each item of service, then resounces can be sourced to deal with it. He’s doing the same thing uk government and press always do; try to make out very hard working UK GPs are lazy, for not gleefully taking on more unpaid work. Same ol’ same ol’. 😔
The most appropriate action in my view would be for the BMA to instruct GPs not to engage with the October dangerous, high risk , incoherent online access introduced by a failing NHS England many of whom have never worked within general Practice. Thus, this would allow GPs to continue the sensible measured introduction of digital methods of communication that GPs are already engaging with. This process is clearly being done with some variation as in line with NHS England’s complete lack of ability to understand the continuing disparities within the Primary Care Arena it supposedly manages, in that the patient cohorts that practices manage and the practices own infrastructure also varies widely and until this basic aspect is understood and mitigated, then NHS England’s recklessness and ineptitude will continue to make matters worse for patients and staff.
so are we going to bend over and let him fuck us as all previous governments have – when are you going to grow a pair and actually fight for us – we need a mick lynch – someone who isnt afraid of saying the quiet part out loud.