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As you would expect, our Health Centre here in Holmes Chapel operates at a significantly higher level than this figure of 25 contacts per day per GP.  Having to make what is an immensely tough decision for the surgery, Dr Tate and the team have decided to take on board the BMA advice to reduce the number of same day appointments, but have only done so by 3 per day per GP working that day. There is still a significant amount of admin that means realistically our GP's are working above this figure of 25 per day but it does show that whilst they take the advice, they believe our patient care is still the most important issue.

What this means in reality, is that the triage system will reach capacity a little earlier each day than previously. Normally, and under typical circumstances Accurx rarely reaches capacity each day and so we shouldn't see much change at the moment. As always, once capacity is reached then patients will be referred to NHS 111 for onward care. The GPs have also acted on the advice of the BMA to not use a number of templates and processes introduced by hospitals (to save them time but generates work in General Practice!), such as not following the Advice and Guidance process and referral templates. Please be assured that all referrals will still be completed but will be in the form of a letter.

Both the PPG and the  Health Centre are in full agreement that this is a situation where we and you, as patients, need to channel our frustrations into contacting our new MP and make our opinions count in an attempt to change the current way that central government is thinking regarding these funding cuts to primary care.

Why? As it stands currently, 90% of patient contact is with Primary Care, (GP's etc), yet a miniscule 8% of NHS budget goes into this part of the NHS whilst 92% of the budget goes to Secondary Care (Hospitals). By slightly reducing the number of same day appointments available each day it is a collective action by GP's aimed at encouraging central government to re-think the current funding strategy. We can help by channelling our frustration and contacting our new MP to help focus her mind on this key matter. She can be contacted by email on: sarah.russell.mp@parliament.uk 

Below is a link to the fuller documentation regarding the BMA advice etc to this email should anyone wish to read a bit more about why these decisions have been made.