GP industrial action could lead to ‘disaster’ in cancer care and worsen A&E waiting times, experts and patient groups warn

GP industrial action could lead to ‘disaster’ in cancer care and worsen A&E waiting times, experts have warned. 

More than 98 per cent of family doctors in England today backed the proposed British Medical Association (BMA) disruption. 

It means from today, BMA GPs can ‘pick and choose’ from 10 measures designed to wreak chaos across the health service, including a daily 25 appointment cap per family doctor, which could see the up to a third of appointments slashed.

Health leaders and campaigners labelled the action ‘very damaging’ and warned it would pile ‘huge extra pressures’ on the rest of the health service.

Experts even said family doctors working-to-rule could ‘have a far greater impact on patients than the junior doctors’ strike’. 

More than 98 per cent of family doctors in England today backed the British Medical Association (BMA) disruption. Health secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) has urged GPs not to punish patients

Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, a campaign group for elderly Brits which advocates for better access to GPs, told MailOnline the action was ‘potentially very damaging for patients’ and ‘premature’. 

‘If patients are turned away from the GP practice, they will ring 111, visit A&E or worst of all they will just head back home and hope they get better by themselves,’ he said. 

A&E waiting times will ‘of course’ worsen, he added. 

‘If GPs take this action there will be huge extra pressures on the rest of the system. All the performance areas will go downhill.’

Mr Reed also said: ‘The fact that the government has settled with the other unions in the health service, should mean that GPs give the Government a chance at least to actually come up with some proposals.

‘To go straight into industrial action is extreme and we would certainly ask them to hold off because patients will suffer.’

Professor Karol Sikora, a world-renowned oncologist with over 40 years’ experience, was also concerned about the impact on patients.

He told this website: ‘This is a disaster for those developing symptoms that could be caused by cancer unless it is resolved quickly. 

‘Cancer survival is much higher at the early stage of the disease for all the main cancers. 

‘Symptoms are often vague to start with and may not cause great alarm. So getting sorted out quickly is crucial. 

‘Access to primary care is already appalling in the UK and this will just make it much worse. 

‘The GPs’ action will have a far greater impact on patients than the junior doctors’ strike.’

He added: ‘My advice is to persist to get sorted out. Use urgent care centres, NHS 111 and if necessary book a private scan to get to the front of the queue. 

‘The whole system is creaking but polite persistence will usually work. 

‘On no account get aggressive — it’s not the receptionist’s fault.’

Catching cancer early, when it’s most treatable, can boost survival odds up to eight-fold, data shows. 

More than 320,000 people in England — or 900 a day — are diagnosed with cancer each year, with prostate, breast, bowel and lung the most common types. 

But NHS cancer services are repeatedly fail to achieve their targets. 

Figures released earlier this month showed NHS England met just one of its three cancer diagnosis targets. 

Of the 273,810 urgent cancer referrals made by GPs in May, 76.4 per cent were diagnosed or had the disease ruled out within 28 days. The target is 75 per cent.

Fewer than two-thirds (65.8 per cent) of patients started their first cancer treatment within two months of an urgent referral. 

Health service guidelines state 85 per cent of cancer patients should be treated within this timeframe.

NHS England has said the public still must come forward for care as they would normally during GP industrial action.

If patients have appointments already booked in, they should also still attend unless informed otherwise.

Health leaders and campaigners labelled the action ‘very damaging’ and warned it would pile ‘huge extra pressures’ on the rest of the health service. Experts even said the action could ‘have a far greater impact on patients than the junior doctors’ strike’

The BMA has also insisted they don’t want patients to be ‘piggy in the middle’ of the dispute, insisting patients ‘won’t come to harm’ from any action. 

Instead, the union said it wanted the impacts of their action to be felt by policymakers and administrators.

But they acknowledged, patients seeking care over the daily 25 appointments would be diverted to ‘local urgent care settings’ such as 111 or walk-in clinics when the total is hit. 

As many as 3million GP appointments a month could disappear as a result of family doctors imposing the cap, according to estimates by primary care leaders.

Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists’ Association, said pharmacists are braced to see ‘significantly more patients’ as the action takes effect. 

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of Independent Pharmacies Association, meanwhile, told MailOnline: ‘This industrial action will only place a heavier burden on already stretched community pharmacies. 

‘Our sector is severely underfunded and overworked — we kept our doors open throughout the pandemic and have worked non stop for the NHS delivering accessible care. 

‘Over 1300 pharmacies have already closed their doors for good due to the underfunding, yet we are asked to do more for less. 

‘It is a shame that NHS bosses have no way of rewarding a sector that has gone over and beyond for the NHS. We cannot continue being taken for granted.’

National Pharmacy Association Chair, Nick Kaye, also said: ‘Where GP practices limit their number of daily appointments, it’s likely that more patients will come to community pharmacies for healthcare advice, reassurance and over-the- counter medicines.

‘However, community pharmacy’s ability to be an effective shock-absorber for disruption elsewhere in the healthcare system has been eroded by persistent underfunding, which has created serious capacity challenges in our own sector.’

Announcing the ballot result today, Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of BMA’s GP committee for England, argued GPs are ‘at the end of their tether’. 

She added: ‘This is an act of desperation. For too long, we’ve been unable to provide the care we want to.

‘We are witnessing general practice being broken. 

‘The era of the family doctor has been wiped out by recent consecutive governments and our patients are suffering as a result.

‘We understand that the new Government has inherited a broken NHS, and we’ve had some positive conversations with the new Health Secretary about the situation in general practice.

‘This will not be a “big bang”. It will be a slow burn. It’s likely that impact may not be felt for some time.

‘We hope this will give the new Government time to consider our proposed solutions including fixing our contract once and for all.

‘General practice should be the front door of the NHS, not the doormat. 

Announcing the ballot result today, Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer (pictured), chair of BMA’s GP committee for England, argued GPs are ‘at the end of their tether’. She added: ‘This is an act of desperation. For too long, we’ve been unable to provide the care we want to’

‘We don’t want to have to take this next step but must if we’re to stop our services from collapsing completely.’

The BMA has said the new GP contract, which will see services given a 1.9 per cent funding increase for 2024/25, means many surgeries will struggle to stay financially viable.

GP surgeries have also faced rising levels of harassment, assaults and verbal abuse targeted at staff in recent months. 

During the action, practices are still required to be open between 08:00 and 18:30 Monday to Friday. 

The BMA said it was ‘not recommending which actions practices take’.

Instead, the union outlined ‘it is for each practice to pick and choose as they see fit’. 

GPs have not staged collective action since 1964 when family doctors handed in undated resignations to Harold Wilson’s Labour government.

A proportion of family doctors, however, staged industrial action in 2012 in protest against increases in pension contributions and a later retirement age for doctors. 

Estimates suggest around just a fifth to a third of practices took part in the action. 

The collective action also comes after the Department of Health and Social Care made a new pay offer to junior doctors in England — potentially bringing months of strike action to an end.

Junior doctor members of the BMA are now voting on whether to accept the deal, which is worth 22.3 per cent on average over two years.