Pharmacies will be able to supply more medicines without a GP prescription to help ease pressure
Policy EditorEveryone who needs to see their GP will be able to get an appointment within two weeks, Health Secretary Thérèse Coffey will pledge on Thursday,Up to one million extra GP appointments every year will be created, the minister will claim, by surgeries being paid to take on more support staff, including nurse practitioners and GP assistants, to ease doctors’ workloads.
But there will be scepticism over how quickly new support staff can be taken on to free up extra appointments, when the NHS is already strugglingPatients have been struggling for years to get quick appointments to see their GP, with many forced to phone at 8am to get a same-day slot or be forced to wait as many as three or four weeks.
Funding will also be given so surgeries can upgrade their phone systems to make booking an appointment more efficient, while patients will be able to view data on appointments at a practice level for the first time.
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