Patients are being forced to “fight their way through the NHS” when uncertain about what is happening with their care, experts have warned. A survey suggests many people are confused about where to turn for updates on referrals, appointments and follow-ups.
The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) warned this meant patients were turning to GPs with inquiries about hospital care, adding to pressure on overwhelmed surgeries.
Survey findings on patient confusion
Public polling of 2,000 people by Censuswide found 64% had contacted their GP at least once in the last year while waiting for care from another NHS service. This included patients wanting to follow up on test results or letters (28%), chase appointments (23%) or resolve medication issues originating from hospital care (23%).
More than four in five (86%) said there had been times when they were unsure who to contact about their care. Of those, almost half said their confusion had caused anxiety and worry and 34% had experienced treatment delays.
Experts and RCGP respond
Rachel Power, chief executive of The Patients Association, said: “Patients should not have to fight their way through the NHS to get the care they need. Yet too many people are being left to chase appointments, referrals and information between different services, unsure who is responsible for their care or where to turn for help. This can have serious consequences, with anxiety, delays and worsening health becoming part of people’s experience of trying to access care.”
RCGP president Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown said the findings were “concerning”. She added: “Patients should not be expected to navigate a complex NHS on their own, and general practice should not become the default place to chase appointments, referrals, test results or information held elsewhere in the health service.”
Waiting list and GP workload
NHS data published this week showed 6.24 million patients were waiting for an estimated 7.37 million treatments at the end of August, after the waiting list rose for a second consecutive month. More than 113,000 people had been waiting over a year.
A separate survey of more than 1,500 RCGP members earlier this year found around a third spent at least a fifth of their time supporting patients waiting for specialist care. Bureaucracy and “IT systems that don’t speak properly to each other” mean GPs often struggle to find the information patients are seeking, Prof Tzortziou Brown added.
She said: “This drains the already-limited time we have during appointments to listen to our patients and deliver the care that's right for them. We need a simpler, more joined-up NHS, where patients know who is responsible for their care, can easily find out what is happening with their referral or treatment, and can get the information they need without having to go back to their GP.”
Calls for clearer pathways
The RCGP described the current situation as a “maze”. It is urging the Government to work with patients and medics to design clearer care pathways and allow patients to track referrals. The College's petition has collected more than 10,000 signatures.
Ms Power added: “Our own Patient Experience Survey found that more than half of respondents (57%) had struggled to access both GP and hospital appointments. These barriers are fundamentally changing the relationship patients have with the NHS and raise serious concerns about equity, particularly for people who already face greater challenges accessing care. Patients should not have to join the dots between different parts of the NHS.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said people should sign up for digital services that provide care updates. They added: “We expect every service to meet NHS England standards for patient experience by providing confirmation that referrals have been received, clarity on next steps, regular updates, and a clear point of contact for appointments.”
