Website checks two-day GP target

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An MP has set up a website for people to report problems getting appointments with their GPs within the 48-hour national target.

Grant Shapps, Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield, is convinced many are not seen quickly - and that official statistics do not reflect this.

Since its launch earlier this month, the website - www.48hourgp.com - has received dozens of complaints.

The Department of Health insists that access to GPs has improved.

A spokesman said more than 87% of patients were now seen inside the 48-hour deadline.

The target states that all patients should be able to get an appointment to see their GP within two days, and practices receive extra money if they meet it.

The problem is that people who don't get through on the phone obviously aren't being recorded in the figures Grant Shapps M

During the 2005 General Election campaign, Tony Blair was confronted by a member of the public during the BBC's 'Question Time' who told him the effect of the policy meant that she had to spend hours trying to get through to her local GP on the phone, because booking more than 48 hours ahead was no longer allowed.

At the time the Department of Health claimed that 99.9% of patients were being seen within the deadline.

Mr Blair described the situation as 'astonishing' and promised action. In 2006, the department announced tighter checks on how doctors were performing against the target.

Patient care

Grant Shapps believes that, 18 months later, many patients remain unsatisfied with the unintended consequences of the target, and launched the website to gather evidence of this.

He said that some practices had put in place systems to meet the target which were damaging patient care.

One of the people who has already responded is his constituent Debbie Lee, who wrote: "I tried every day at 8.30am but it was engaged, and by the time I got through all the appointments had gone for a whole week.

"In fact I have still not got an appointment - I have given up trying and just keep limping about!"

Mr Shapps said: "The problem is that people who don't get through on the phone obviously aren't being recorded in the figures, and that means the picture looks better than it actually is.

"The point of the website is to give people the opportunity to record problems they have getting an appointment.

"We'll be sharing these results with the surgeries involved, health authorities and primary care trusts."

A spokesman for the Department of Health said that, since 1997, the percentage of people seen within 48 hours had increased from 50% to 87%.

In addition, she said, a survey by the Healthcare Commission suggested that the vast majority of patients were satisfied with the amount of time it took to get a GP appointment.