Underinvestment in GP services ‘harming care quality’

A new study from the British Medical Association (BMA) has highlighted the need for added investment in GP services in order to improve the standard of care.

According to its survey of almost 4,000 GP practices in England, four out of ten practices feel that their current facilities are not adequate to deliver services to patients, while seven in ten feel their facilities are too small to roll out additional services.

Meanwhile, close to six in ten GPs said they have to share consulting rooms or employ hotdesking, creating constraints on the number of appointments the practice can provide and damaging the overall delivery of services.

The report also showed that just over half of practices have seen no investment or refurbishment in the past ten years, suggesting many of these problems can be attributed to budgetary concerns.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA's GP Committee, said: "This puts a serious question mark over the government's plans to move more care into the community, as many GP facilities will not be able to sustain this extra workload."

Despite this, the recent GP Patient Survey showed a majority of GP patients in England are satisfied with the service they are receiving, but a slight dip in positivity demonstrates that greater investment is needed.