GP patients 'wait over fortnight'

All GP surgeries in Wales should offer appointments within two weeks

Patients in parts of south Wales regularly have to wait more than two weeks for an appointment with their doctor, research has found.

In one case, Gwent Community Health Council could not book an appointment with a surgery within a month.

The study also questioned whether access to GPs was placing extra pressure on out-of-hours services.

The British Medical Association said some results "seem indefensible", but they did not show the whole picture.

The health council quizzed 93 GP surgeries across five local authorities with a "mystery patient" calling receptions in both the morning and afternoon.

In Torfaen, one surgery was unable to offer a slot to see a doctor for more than four calendar weeks.

Some of the findings seem to be indefensible and we look forward to seeing how the local health boards will respond Dr David Bailey, British Medical Association

Across the authority, only four surgeries could give an appointment within two weeks, which is the target set by the Welsh Assembly Government.

The picture contrasts sharply with Monmouthshire, where only one practice failed to meet the deadline.

The survey also highlighted a wide variation in surgery times, including one practice in Blaenau Gwent where there was no doctor present on any day of the week between noon and 4pm.

Another issue raised by the report was the number of practices that did not offer appointments at all.

Of the 22 surgeries questioned in Newport, nine did not run an appointment service, while in Caerphilly a further five practices refused to book a specific time.

The report authors said: "Clearly there is substantial variation in the availability of GP appointments across Gwent.

Closed at lunchtime

"All practices are required to meet Welsh Assembly Government accessibility targets in terms of offering routine appointments within two weeks.

"All practices report that they do; however, this exercise has identified that a proportion clearly offer appointments outside the target."

The report also questioned what it meant for other services: "We know that when the GP out-of-hour service becomes available there is a surge in demand," it said.

"Is this because out-of-hours services are more accessible than in-hours?"

Only a handful of surgeries were able to give appointments after 6pm, and more than half of those questioned were closed at lunchtime.

Dr David Bailey, chair of the BMA's GP Committee said: "We generally welcome the Community Health Council's report.

"Some of the findings seem to be indefensible and we look forward to seeing how the local health boards will respond to the information they have been given.

"We do not think that this portrays the wider picture across Wales - you cannot extrapolate the general from a study of access in one particular area."