GP online access changes: Practice stops pre-bookings and receptionist ‘in tears’

Credit: Getty Images/sturti

By Claudia Tanner

The changes to online access at GP surgeries coming into force today (1 October) have been hailed “a major step towards the government’s ambition of ending the 8am scramble” by the government.

However, a GP leader warned that the policy could backfire. “On the face of it, from a patient perspective, it sounds like it's a good idea,” Dr Steve Taylor, the Doctors' Association UK’s GP spokesperson told Doctors.net.uk. “But personally, it looks like a really bad idea.”

He recalls how during the pandemic, his practice enabled patients access to online consultation systems throughout core hours. “Having unlimited access can cause quite a lot of issues. What we found was that we just got inundated with increasing numbers of requests often some people repeating requests... so asking one question, then later on asking something else, and asking another. It became a problem.”

"It's possible that larger practices are going to manage it OK because they've got the sort of resources people to manage it,” says Dr Taylor. “But I think some of the smaller practices are going to really struggle.”