GPs ordered to work Easter Saturday as NHS faces new crisis
DOCTORS’ surgeries will be made to open over Easter and hospitals have been told to clear their beds as fears grow of unprecedented demand stretching the NHS to breaking point.
The emergency orders have been issued to head off an anticipated health crisis over the four-day bank holiday period.
As well as instructions to surgeries to open on Saturday, April 4, out-of-hours organisations, often staffed by locum doctors, have been told to take on extra cover.
One GP told the Daily Express the NHS England diktat was proof of failings across the health service.
Dr Ian Campbell said: “Easter weekend has always been a challenge and usually it is GPs who get the blame. The reality is demand continues to outstrip supply.
“This applies right across the NHS spectrum. It is just sharply focused in A&E departments.
Cost-cuttings and under-resourcing can be hidden to an extent. But when the system needs to be at its best, the weaknesses are exposed.”
The Nottingham GP added: “The anticipated problems at Easter are, quite simply, poor management being flushed to the surface.”
The extent of the NHS crisis was underlined yesterday by official figures showing a “sharp increase” in numbers attending A&E in England last week to 426,500 with the target of seeing 95 per cent of patients within four hours missed again.
It marks the 22nd consecutive week the target has been not been achieved.
In a memo to NHS trusts and GPs Barbara Hakin, NHS England’s deputy chief executive, warns that plans must be drawn up to cope with pressure on services over the holiday period next month.
Organisations now have a fortnight to produce “robust demand and capacity plans” for April’s break.
Traditionally, GPs and dentists close on the Thursday before Easter, re-opening the following Tuesday.
As a result, A&E departments are forced to cope with extra pressure at a time when more staff are on leave.
A growing “bed-blocking” crisis means Easter could be even worse than Christmas when at least 14 hospitals were on major alert because of excess demand, with others setting up tents and makeshift wards.
The Royal College of GPs says more than 90 per cent of NHS patients are managed in general practice by doctors who are now dealing with 370 million appointments a year – 70 million more than five years ago.
They are calling for the share of the NHS budget for general practice to be increased to 11 per cent by 2017 and for 8,000 more doctors in England by 2020.
Chairman Dr Maureen Baker said: “Everyone should be able to see their GP when they need to but doctors are already struggling to cope with rising numbers of patients and increasingly limited resources.”
