Yorkshire NHS staff focus on five-year-plan to cut waiting times and make it easier to book GP appointments

Those are three of the priorities set out in South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board‘s plan for delivering care to people across Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield over the next five years.

According to the report, there has been a significant increase in demand for GPs in recent years and just 77 per cent of patients can now get an appointment within 14 days.

The integrated care board said it wants to make it easier for patients to see a GP by offering more appointments. Around 8.2m were provided in the year ending March 2019, but there are plans to increase that number to around 9.5m.

“To tackle the 8am rush and to improve their experience of access, patients should no longer be asked to call back another day to book an appointment,” the report stated.

“Patients should know on the day they contact their practice how their request will be managed. Non-urgent needs, but which require a telephone or face-to-face appointment in General Practice, should be scheduled within 14 days.”

It comes after the Government provided £1.5bn to help GPs provide an extra 50m appointments by 2024.

The integrated care board said there are around 78 hours of ambulance handover delays each day in South Yorkshire, meaning sick patients are being forced to wait for care, and it wants to reduce that by at least 31 hours.

To do this, staff will look to treat more patients at home, via home visits or virtual appointments, and reduce the number of elderly patients who are occupying beds despite being fit for discharge.

In South Yorkshire, more than 1,700 patients have been waiting more than 65 weeks for elective procedures, such as hip and knee replacements, after a backlog built up during the pandemic. It wants to cut that waiting list to zero by March 2024.

However, the integrated care board said the ambitious plan has been prepared at a “challenging time for the NHS” as it is still dealing with the impact of the pandemic, staff shortages and industrial action.

Gavin Boyle, Chief Executive at NHS South Yorkshire said: “On average people in South Yorkshire live shorter lives and spend more years in poor health than other parts of the country.

“There are differences in the experience of health and care services and health outcomes for some of our communities which are unfair and must be tackled. This plan seeks to do this.

“The recovery of health services following the pandemic will continue to be a priority, so that local people can access the care and support they need in a timely way.”

The report revealed the biggest underlying causes of deaths in South Yorkshire are heart disease, Covid-19, dementia, lung cancer, Stroke and lower respiratory disease. These conditions account for nearly 50 per cent of all deaths.