Patients face more virtual appointments as many GPs at high risk of coronavirus, says report
Hundreds of thousands of patients are at risk of being unable to see their GP face to face because so many family doctors are at high risk from coronavirus, experts have warned.
A report by independent healthcare charity the Health Foundation has found that one in three GPs who manage a practice single handed are in the high-risk category.
The think tank estimates this could leave more than 710,000 patients relying on telephone or video appointments.
Across England at least eight per cent – roughly 3,600 – of GPs are deemed to be at high risk of death from the virus due to their age or underlying health conditions. The report has found they are disproportionately located in areas of deprivation.
London is also an area likely to be more affected by GPs physically shielding themselves from their patients.
The findings come the week after Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary (see video below), said he wanted virtual consultations to become the norm unless there is a clinical reason to see a family doctor in person.
Mr Hancock said there had been a "hugely positive" response to virtual appointments in the pandemic and called for more "Zoom medicine".
Dr Rebecca Fisher, a senior policy fellow at the Health Foundation and a GP, said: "The ongoing risk of Covid-19 to the safety of both patients and GPs means that hundreds of thousands of people may find it much harder to get a face to face GP appointment.
"It's particularly worrying that GPs at higher risk from Covid-19 are far more likely to be working in area of high deprivation.
"Those are precisely the areas with the greatest health need, the biggest burden from Covid-19 and an existing under-supply of GPs relative to need.
"Unless urgent action is taken, this could become another way in which poorer communities become further disadvantaged, and risks further widening health inequalities."
Almost one in 10 GP practices in England is run by a single GP. These serve approximately 2,497,000 patients, and are particularly vulnerable to disruption should the practitioner become ill or die.
Locum GPs, who would be called upon to replace those out of action due to coronavirus, are also more likely to be at risk, the Health Foundation said.
An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS has been crystal clear that each and every GP practice MUST continue to offer face to face patients for those patients who want them wherever clinically appropriate."
