Work-to-rule punishes patients, Streeting tells GPs

The health secretary has urged GPs in England to end collective action and warned it will “only punish patients”.

Addressing the Royal College of GPs conference in Liverpool, Wes Streeting said he understands why doctors “wanted to give the previous government a kicking”.

But he asked them not to “shut your doors to patients” and instead “work with us to rebuild the NHS together”.

GPs voted to work-to-rule in a ballot conducted by the British Medical Association (BMA) in August, with 98.3% of the 8,500 GPS who took part in favour of taking collective action.

Following the ballot, the BMA recommended 10 protocols for surgeries to action, including limiting the number of patients seen by a doctor each day to 25 and being able to stop work when they are not contracted to do so.

NHS England warned the action could not only disrupt GP services, but also affect A&E waits and delay referrals for treatments such as knee and hip operations.

Chair of GPC England at the BMA, Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, said the health secretary had “a fresh opportunity” to put a fair deal on the table to save general practice across England.

Streeting also announce plans to cut the amount of paperwork for GPs to free up more patient-facing hours, as part of the so-called Red Tape challenge.

“I’m determined to bulldoze bureaucracy and cut red tape so we can free up GPs,” he will say.

“Our reform agenda will deliver three big shifts in healthcare to make the NHS fit for the future – moving it from analogue to digital, hospital to community, and sickness to prevention.”

Officials will ask GPs, hospitals and integrated care boards (ICBs) what changes they would like to see, with the information then relayed to doctors working in primary and secondary care.

This will then be passed on to NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard early next year.

Ms Pritchard said GPS and NHS staff are “under immense pressure”, adding the NHS needs to be better at “sharing and implementing” processes to alleviate this.

Speaking at the Labour party conference last month, Streeting said he would not back down on his message that the NHS is “broken” after concerns were aired.

The government had previously claimed cancer was a “death sentence” because of NHS failings, while maternity services “shamed” the nation.

Senior sources in the health service told the BBC of concerns that the claims may result in patients being put off seeking help and causing lasting damage to staff morale.

His comments came after resident doctors (formerly junior doctors) in England agreed a deal last month to stop strike action, ending one of the longest running disputes in NHS history in which 11 strikes resulted in 44 days of disruption since March 2023.

The title change to ‘resident doctors’ – agreed upon last month – is intended to better reflect medics’ expertise.

The doctors’ union, the British Medical Association (BMA), which called for the change, called the term junior “infantilising and demeaning”.

“Resident doctor” will refer to more than 50,000 qualified doctors working in GP practices and hospitals – some recently out of medical school and others with a decade of experience.

Health ministers say they have accepted the new name as part of a drive to “reset the relationship” between NHS doctors and the government.