Half of Britons avoid calling GP when they are ill, survey finds | Health

Almost half of the public delays or avoids visiting their GP surgery when they are sick; The main reason for this is that they think they will have difficulty getting an appointment.

According to a survey, 48 per cent of people across the UK didn’t bother to seek help from their GP when they got sick in the last year – not initially, not at all.

Just over a quarter (27%) preferred to manage the disorder themselves or wait for it to go away, despite doctors fearing that avoiding GP care could seriously harm a person’s health.

The findings underline the deep public concern about the ability to quickly access vital NHS services such as emergency response, GP care, hospital treatment and an ambulance if they call 999.

A survey by Ipsos for the Health Foundation think tank found a large number of people do not seek out GP surgeries. Three in 10 people did not expect to be offered a doctor’s appointment at a convenient time, and 17% thought it would be difficult to contact their practice.

Prof Victoria Tzortziou Brown, president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “General practice is the front door to healthcare and all patients should be able to see their doctor when they need to. So it is worrying to hear that some are delaying or avoiding treatment because they think it will be difficult to get an appointment.”

A third of Brits decided not to go to A&E in the last two years despite needing treatment because they said they expected a long delay before being seen. separate voting It was carried out by Savanta for the Liberal Democrats last month.

Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Helen Maguire said: “Patients deserve so much better. It is heartbreaking to think of older people or parents of sick children sitting at home suffering because they have lost faith that the system will be there for them.”

The think tank said the findings should “ring alarm bells” about the government’s plan to move many healthcare services from hospitals to community settings, one of “three big shifts” in the government’s 10-year plan to transform the NHS in England.

“Ongoing public concerns about problems in general practices and A&E, the ‘front doors’ to the NHS, mean policymakers may need to reassess their priorities,” he added.

Ipsos’ representative survey of 2,214 adults in December revealed widespread pessimism and pessimism about the state of the NHS. He also found:

• Faster access to GPs and A&E are the public’s top priorities for the NHS.

• Only 32% believe the NHS provides a good service across the country.

• 42% think the NHS standard of care has worsened in the last year and only 12% think it has improved.

• 47% fear NHS care will decline further next year and just 15% expect it to get better

UK health minister Wes Streeting and his counterparts in Edinburgh and Cardiff will be concerned that only 15% of the public think their country’s government is pursuing the right policies to revive healthcare. Many more (54%) disagree.

The findings emerged when Streeting published the following article: new GP contract This reveals the type of care GPs in England will provide in 2025-26.

It required GP surgeries to see all patients with urgent medical needs on the day they were contacted and reallocated £300 million of funding to allow surgeries to recruit 1,600 more doctors.

Chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, Dr. Katie Bramall said: “Hardworking GPs will be deeply concerned about creating even more unrealistic expectations of the provision of unlimited same-day urgent care, as well as potential barriers to specialist referrals, as they try to keep practices open and prevent further surgery closures.”

He criticized Streeting for not negotiating the contract with the BMA, as he had for many years. Disturbed by the BMA’s opposition to plans to give patients online access to GPs during working hours, the health secretary instead consulted various GPs and patient organisations.