BMA calls for meeting after health secretary blames GPs for pressure on emergency services

The BMA has written to secretary of state Jeremy Hunt asking for an urgent meeting to discuss the best way to manage increasing demands on emergency departments and rising emergency care admissions.

In a speech to Age UK on 25 April, Hunt blamed “disastrous” changes to general practitioners’ contracts made in 2004 under the Labour government for the “decline in the quality of out of hours care” and four million extra people a year using emergency services.

He said that it was time “to rethink the role of primary care” to prevent emergency admissions and to “make sure people with long term conditions are better looked after outside the hospital system.” Hunt said that there would be an announcement on “plans for local pioneer sites to lead the way on this” shortly.

“Too …