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Doctors warn parents need better access to GPs to relieve pressure on A&E (5 May 2015)

Date: 05/05/2015
Duncan Lewis, Clinical Negligence Solicitors, Doctors warn parents need better access to GPs to relieve pressure on A&E

Leading doctors have warned that pressure is being placed on A&E departments by “worried parents” taking their children to casualty for minor ailments.

BBC News reports that medical experts at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College General Practice (RCGP) have “joined forces” in a report Facing the Future:Together for Child Health, recommending that hospitals are not always the best places for children to be seen.

Children comprise one-quarter of all A&E admissions in the UK – and experts are calling for more GPs and better training in child medicine for GPs. Parents are thought to be using A&E departments if they are unable to access GP care for their children.

A&E staff have previously cited a rise in the number of elderly patients and mental health patients using A&E because they cannot access care.

A&E staff are also regularly required to treat members of the public admitted for alcohol-related injuries, with some doctors calling for drinkers to be charged for using A&E services if they are simply drunk and unconscious as a result.

Commenting on the increase in concerned parents taking their children to A&E, president of RCPCH Dr Hilary Cass said:
“The vast majority of children's illnesses are minor and require little or no medical intervention.

“So a significant number of these attendances at the emergency department are unnecessary – and putting extra pressure on the system and causing undue distress and disruption for families.

“But of course every attendance means that a parent is worried about their child's health – and either unable or unsure about how to access a more appropriate service.”

The report by the experts recommends that GPs should be able to contact child health specialists immediately for telephone advice – with a rapid-access system to enable GPs to refer children to specialists for an appointment within 24 hours. The report also recommends round-the-clock nurse teams in the community, to support children's emergency services.

However, chief executive of the charity the Patient's Association, Katherine Murphy, said that better access to GP care was also needed.

“It can be frightening for children to end up in A&E – they might be better cared for in the community in many cases.
“But very often parents take their children to A&E because they can't get access to their GPs.

“They know they won't be turned away from A&E and won't need to wait days for an appointment.

“We need better access – and there needs to be more awareness raised of services such as minor injury units.”

Professor Nigel Mathers of the RCGP said it was crucial for parents to be able to see a GP when needed – the RCGP is calling for anther 8,000 GPs in England to fulfil demand.

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