GP surgeries should be placed in A&E departments to treat patients and ease mounting pressure
Research found that 27 per cent of doctors believed up to a third of people go to A&E when they should be seen by a GP or nurse
GPs should be placed in accident and emergency departments to treat patients who turn up inappropriately in a bid to ease mounting pressure on hospitals, according to a poll of doctors.
There is widespread concern among medics that people are turning to A&E rather than seeing a GP or a nurse first.
As key targets for waiting times are missed at A&E departments across England, the survey found that 61 per cent of GPs and secondary care doctors believed putting primary health services in A&E was necessary to relieve pressure on emergency departments.
The poll of more than 500 doctors found that 27 per cent of doctors believed up to a third of people go to A&E when they should be seen by a GP or nurse.
Some 13 per cent of doctors said more than half of patients should be redirected to GP services on arrival at A&E.
Official NHS figures show about 13 per cent of people who attend A&E are discharged without requiring treatment while a further 35 per cent are discharged after being given advice or guidance only.
In the poll, carried out by healthcare intelligence provider Wilmington Healthcare, 75 per cent of doctors said they thought people went to A&E without needing to because they thought they would be seen faster.
Some 74 per cent said patients misunderstood the purpose of A&E and 62 per cent said patients thought they would get to see a specialist upon visiting an emergency department.
In November, MPs on the Commons health committee warned that poor performance in A&E has "become the norm" for some NHS trusts.
A&E departments are now routinely missing the national target to deal with 95 per cent of patients within four hours.
Major A&E departments - those located in hospitals - perform the worst, with just 87.9 per cent of patients admitted, discharged or transferred within that timeframe in 2015/16.
The poll found that just 28 per cent of doctors did not think GP services should be co-located in hospitals.
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One doctor surveyed said: "Inappropriate A&E attendances should be redirected to primary care services for review and patients should be given education at the same time."
While another said: "We should not be discouraging patients from attending A&E, but should be providing the services that they need and want at one convenient destination - this could include pharmacy, primary care, minor injuries, emergency department and rapid access."
The poll also found educating patients on when they should go to A&E was considered a key step to relieving pressure on hospitals by 72 per cent of doctors.
Improving access to GPs was considered necessary by 60 per cent of doctors, while 40 per cent said increasing the availability of doctors out of hours would also help.
Gareth Thomas, managing director of Wilmington Healthcare, said: "Urgent action must be taken to tackle the escalating crisis in A&E departments across the country, where patient numbers have been increasing for more than a decade and estimates suggest that many patients should be directed to primary care services.
"Our survey shows that a significant proportion of doctors believe that co-located GP services could help to alleviate the problem, while improving patient education and access to primary care and out-of-hours services are also key."
Taj Hassan, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: "The results here bear out what this college has been advocating for many years.
"It is important to match the level of services available to reflect both rising demand and our ageing population.
"Co-location of primary care services can offer some solutions to the challenges faced by the rising tide of patients arriving at emergency departments."