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Surrey鈥檚 GPs have been criticised by a councillor who says they are 鈥渄esigning a failing system鈥� where 鈥渋t鈥檚 impossible to see a GP鈥� and people think they are 鈥渁re out there playing golf鈥�.
Patients鈥� struggles to access their doctor have been heard, Surrey County Council鈥檚 adults and health select committee was told today (March 3), and the system is continuing to evolve as research shows it is not working well a lot of the time.
A Surrey GP told councillors they are 鈥渨orking all day, trying to serve as many patients as possible.鈥�
A new cloud telephone system will be delivered across the whole Surrey Heartlands area, though this will take at least a year.
Cllr Ernest Mallett (Residents鈥� Association and Independent, West Molesey) said: 鈥淭he simple fact is that you are running a system at the moment where none of us can see a GP.
鈥淚f I waved your report in front of any of my residents they would just say that鈥檚 a load of nonsense and they鈥檇 be infuriated.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e talking about doing cloud services, well you鈥檙e all in the cloud that鈥檚 the trouble, where are you, where are the GPs today?
鈥淭he common view is that the GPs are out there playing golf, because none of us can see them.鈥�
Under a new digital system accelerated by the pandemic, consultations by phone or video are considered by a practice to be a better alternative than face-to-face in some cases.
Clare Burgess, chief executive of Surrey Coalition of Disabled People, told how John (not his real name) from northwest Surrey, who has an ear infection and is completely blind, 鈥渉adn鈥檛 been able to get hold of his GP so over the weekend he crossed three main roads to deliver a handwritten note鈥�.
She said: 鈥淗e hadn鈥檛 had a response so got in touch with me. I jumped online and the GP practice said because we鈥檝e given out all our appointments today, you can鈥檛 even send us a message.鈥�
Dr Charlotte Canniff, a Sunbury GP and clinical chair of Surrey Heartlands clinical commissioning group, said: 鈥淚 cannot defend the experience that John just went through, it鈥檚 not acceptable and it鈥檚 not what I鈥檇 want any patient in Surrey to have to go through.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just about aware of the capacity that hits our front door. I think that鈥檚 the tip of an iceberg and what we鈥檙e not aware of is the capacity that never even gets to our front door.
鈥淚 would like to really stress there is no practice in Surrey that is playing golf, that is not working all day, trying to serve as many patients as possible.鈥�
She later joked she had a 鈥渢ee-off time鈥� before clarifying she was due in surgery.
Councillors were told 3.16 of over 6.5 million Surrey Heartlands patient consultations in a year were conducted face-to-face.
In January 2022, 237,522 appointments (61.4 per cent) were delivered in person and 149,144 (38.6 our cent) were virtual.
Dr Canniff added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 changed in some ways for the better, it鈥檚 opened up additional channels.聽Many people like not having to leave work, sort out childcare or a taxi.
鈥淲e鈥檝e also been told loud and clear, and agree loud and clear, that there are some conditions and some patients with certain preferences that are better dealt with face-to-face.
鈥淎s we design the offer going forward we are very mindful that we need to be flexible around the types of access.鈥�
鈥楾here is a lot of pressure on the system鈥�
Director of primary care Nikki Mallender said: 鈥淪urrey Heartlands is the first integrated care system as I understand it, certainly in the region if not nationally, to start re-engaging with our community about the co-design of our services, so we are trying to respond 鈥� it鈥檚 just that there is a lot of pressure in the system.
鈥淎longside of that delivery we鈥檝e had a very intensive delivery of the vaccine service, of which general practice I think delivered 80 per cent 鈥� if you think about 1.1 million population and the three doses it took to deliver, the GPs certainly haven鈥檛 been sitting on their laurels, there鈥檚 been a lot of work going on.鈥�
Dr Canniff said they were 鈥渟till battling with a lack of availability of appointments鈥� and had 鈥渉ad significant issues recruiting for at least the last five years and it鈥檚 getting progressively worse鈥�.
Surrey Heartlands has 530 full-time equivalent GPs, each offering eight half-days of consultations a week and each serving around 2,500 people.
Dr Pramit Patel, Surrey Heartlands primary care network lead, said that to have a net gain of GPs 鈥渨hen we鈥檝e got quite a few of our working GPs in the final years of their working career 鈥� we are going to have a sort of fall off the cliff position.鈥�
Select committee chair Councillor Bernie Muir (Con, Epsom West) asked: 鈥淲hat is an acceptable length of time for someone to be hanging on the phone before they are answered鈥� having to listen to the interminable music?鈥�
She was told Surrey Heartlands had just received enough money from NHS England to upgrade to a cloud telephone system in every one of their 104 practices. This would take at least a year.