More than 450,000 patients in Kent and Medway had a face-to-face appointment with a healthcare professional at their GP practice in March 2021 - almost back to levels before the pandemic.
Combined with many more telephone and online appointments, the 198 practices in Kent and Medway held over 200,000 more appointments this March compared to February 2020. Total appointments have been higher than pre-pandemic levels since September 2020.
GP practices have also played a key role in the Covid-19 vaccination effort, giving more than one million of Kent and Medway’s vaccines so far.
Dr Navin Kumta, Clinical Chair at NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group said:
“The increase in demand, as well as the huge support practice teams continue to give to the vaccination programme means that local practices are working harder than ever before to support their patients.
“We understand that people are experiencing difficulties accessing their GP surgery, and the frustrations that causes. We are working hard to make sure that we can continue to give the best service possible. General practice teams are employing different types of roles, such as Advanced Clinical Practitioners who are specialists in managing long term conditions and clinical pharmacists who can speak to people about their medications. General practice is a team effort, with a range of clinicians using their specialist skills so all patients get the care they need.”
To make sure that patients get the right care from the right professional as quickly as possible, triage systems will remain in place.
GP practices will continue to offer telephone and video consultations. These can be convenient and flexible for many people but where patients need to or would rather be seen by a health professional face-to-face, this will be arranged.
Dr Kumta added: “Unfortunately, we are hearing increasing reports of people taking their frustrations out on practice staff. Abuse of any kind is not acceptable. We hope the figures for how many appointments are happening dispel any myth that GP teams have not been busy. We would ask everyone to be respectful and understanding of our NHS staff who continue to work in difficult circumstances.”
