News of surgeries at breaking point will come as no news to any primary care worker in the NHS right now. Recently the topic was hotly debated in the press when David Cameron was presented with a petition from East London GPs who fear 22 practices in deprived London areas will be forced to close down if new funding cuts are not reversed soon. Funding is at the heart of the issue, but non-urgent appointments masquerading as emergencies could be adding extra pressure.

One surgery in Halifax wrote to its patients last week warning them that ‘we’re at breaking point,’ and that patients should only call for an appointment in an emergency and that non-emergency patients should expect appointment to be seen within two to seven days.

Just 40% of patients can now expect to be seen within 48 hours compared to 80% under the last Labour government, and patients claiming emergency situations could be partly to blame for appointment backlogs. Certain buzzwords will always prompt a receptionist to find that spare appointment slot  – drowsy child, loss of sensation and chest pain – but there’s a growing sense now that patients are sometimes ‘playing the system’ to get seen sooner. The knock-on effect at local hospitals is, of course, the next worry as patients seek medical attention elsewhere when there’s no room at the inn down at their local surgery.

The average surgery now deals with around twenty patients a day asking for same-day appointments. A study in Dudley found that most patients waited at least a week to see a doctor recently, with only 13% managing to secure a same-day slot. Recent polls in Bristol and Essex showed that roughly one in five patients has to wait over a week to see a GP, though half of those patients were seen within two days of requesting an appointment.

Could surcharges for same-day appointments sort the genuine emergencies from the simply ‘impatient patients’? And crucially, could fees drive down the amount of those costly no-shows? Bupa charges its private patients £75 per fifteen minute GP consultation, and there were calls earlier in the year to charge NHS patients between £10 and £25 to see their GP for a routine appointment.

We want to know what you think about this, so drop us a comment below and join in the debate – or let us know the worst excuses you’ve heard patients use to get themselves a same-day appointment!