One in four GP appointments can be avoided, says report

More than a quarter of GP appointments could potentially have been avoided if wider use were made of other primary care staff, more coordination between GPs and hospitals, and better use of technology, a new report argues.1

The report, by the NHS Alliance and the Primary Care Foundation, said that much of GPs’ time was taken up with rearranging hospital appointments and chasing test results from hospitals. It called for the booking and rearranging of hospital appointments to be made simpler, without the patient needing to go back to the GP.

Commissioned by NHS England, the report involved an audit of 5128 GP consultations across England. Overall 27% of GP appointments were …