Chronic shortage of doctors left FOUR million patients without cover last year
Shortfall in out-of-hours care meant patients had no option but to head to A&E or be treated by nurses or paramedics
FOUR million people were left without out-of-hours GP cover at some point last year, an investigation has found.
One in ten providers had periods with no overnight or weekend family medic available.
The shortfall meant patients had no option but to head to A&E or be treated by nurses, paramedics or non-medically trained staff.
In Peterborough, there were nine shifts without an out-of-hours GP, affecting 230,000 people.
Tower Hamlets in East London had 12 uncovered shifts, with 250,000 told to contact A&E or a “community night team”.
The investigation also found a single out-of-hours GP was left to care for up to 370,000 patients.
The figures were revealed in a Freedom of Information request by GP magazine Pulse.
Dr Simon Abrams, chair of Urgent Health UK – the representative group for out-of-hours GP providers – said: “It is a worrying trend.
“It can be a last-minute appointment that keeps the service afloat.”
Other medics said the system was “broken” and “not safe”.
Joyce Robins, from Patient Concern, said: “It is just disgraceful.
“No out-of-hours GP access leaves forces desperate patients to head to crowded A&Es.
“It is just not good enough. It’s frightful, and patients are bearing the brunt of these failures.”
Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: “Patient safety is being threatened by this Government’s failure to recruit and properly fund our GPs.
“This is also putting more pressure on emergency departments that are already under impossible strain.”