general practice

More than 2.5m patients in England could see their GP practice close in the next five years because most of their doctors are near retirement age, the RCGP has warned. More than three quarters of GPs are aged over 55 years old at 762 GP practices across the UK, analysis by the RCGP reveals...

A top GP has issued a stark message to health and social care secretary Matt Hancock over his backing for technology such as GP at Hand - warning that policy driven by 'deaf enthusiasts or commercial interests' is unlikely to benefit the NHS. RCGP vice chair of external affairs Professor Martin...

A GP practice taken over by Virgin Care has been placed in special measures after going from an official rating of “outstanding” to “inadequate” in less than two years despite increased funding. The Sutherland Lodge practice in Chelmsford, Essex, was taken over by the private provider in July...

Public satisfaction with GP services has fallen to its lowest level since records began in 1983, according to the annual British Social Attitudes survey. Satisfaction dropped seven percentage points to 65% in the 2017 study, making it the first time general practice has not been the...

The latest acronym to hit the NHS is ACO - accountable care organisations. You would be forgiven for sighing with disbelief at yet another change to the way the NHS operates. It wasn’t enough for the Conservative-led coalition to push through the single biggest reorganisation of the NHS with the...

EXCLUSIVE Commissioners are reserving a set proportion of GP appointments for NHS 111 direct booking following instruction from NHS England, Pulse has learned. Under the NHS England instructions, at least 5% of all callers must be given the option of booking an in-hours GP appointment following...

Sheffield GP practices will work together in 16 different areas across the city to combat a future shortage of doctors, NHS bosses have said. Around 40 people packed into a room to hear a raft of changes to urgent care services set out by Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). NHS bosses...

EXCLUSIVE GPs in Yorkshire have been given £700,000 to offer more in-hours appointments over winter, while GPs in Birmingham are set to receive £375,000 for extra appointments in January. The winter resilience scheme in NHS Calderdale CCG, which launched in November, has allowed all GPs in the...

Last month, I, alongside several colleagues, launched a new digital service that makes NHS GPs available to people – initially in London – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via their mobile phones. GP at Hand harnesses technology to cut down the wait for a routine GP appointment from the current...

Online consultations may not be the key to reducing doctors' workload and cutting patient waiting time, a health service study has found. NHS England is offering a £45m fund to support GP practices to adopt online consultation systems. But researchers say evidence from a pilot shows the use...

Practice premises are 'increasingly perceived as an unwanted liability by potential GP partners' and have become a barrier to recruitment, retention and retirement, the Scottish government and the BMA believe. In proposals for a new Scottish GP contract that could take effect from 2018, all GP...

GP leaders from across England have voted down a proposal for struggling practices to be supported by the BMA to go private. The motion, debated at today's England LMCs Conference, said that 'given that a number of GPs feel that they can no longer operate within the NHS' the conference 'calls...

The number of GP specialty training places on offer across the UK in the first round of recruitment for 2018 has shrunk compared to the number offered this year, official figures suggest. The General Practice National Recruitment Office (GPNRO) is advertising 63 fewer places for GP ST1 training...

Pressure on existing GP practices will increase if an NHS service offering video consultations 'within minutes' to Londoners is allowed to exclude patients with complex needs, GP leaders have warned. Patients in London - and the service will soon extend across the country - are being invited to...

In a letter to NHS England, Derby and Derbyshire LMC warned that more than 18 months after taking over Primary Care Support England (PCSE), problems with the service run by private provider Capita are continuing to cause 'overwhelming destabilisation' to general practice across England. The LMC...

GPs are threatening to remove patients from their practice lists if they have relied on “Dr Google” to find out what is wrong with them before their appointment, i has learned. People have been mocked, shouted at and left feeling intimidated for carrying out their own internet research by...

Jeremy Hunt was forced to defend his record in office, as a GP in the audience at the RCGP conference told him he had allowed general practice to deteriorate since he became health secretary. The challenge from the floor came after Mr Hunt took to the stage at the RCGP annual conference in...

Nine in 10 GP surgeries in England have been rated as good and outstanding by inspectors. It means general practice is the highest performing sector in the NHS, according to the Care Quality Commission ratings, above hospitals, mental health and social care. But inspectors did flag up safety...

About 7 million people are being treated at GP surgeries in England that have severe safety problems, according to the first performance review of its kind by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). One in seven GP practices are failing on safety, even after CQC inspectors have told them to improve...

Practices have voted in favour of co-ordinated list closure action in an indicative ballot by the BMA. GP leaders called on the government to take urgent action to address the crisis in the service after practices voted in favour of action. Practices were asked to say whether they would be...