Patients hit out at plans for GPs to write prescriptions for cheaper energy bills

Patients and doctors have ‘completely rejected’ Government plans for GPs write prescriptions for cheaper energy bills for struggling families this winter. 

The radical proposal would mean sick or elderly people could consult their GP for an assessment on whether they need a discount heating their homes. 

It comes amid concerns soaring bills will force many to choose between eating or heating this winter, worsening their health and piling more pressure on the NHS.

But the Treasury plan has been dismissed by patient groups who warn it will make it even harder to get an appointment with a family doctor. 

Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, told MailOnline it was ‘bonkers’ and would create an even greater logjam for GP appointments.

‘If people see, in their desperation, of possibly getting a discount through their GP, then most people are going to go,’ he said.

‘There are going to be millions of extra appointments made with GPs to get these discounts.’

Patients have struggled to secure appointments or see a doctor face-to-face throughout the pandemic, which has seen many resort to A&E instead.

The British Medical Association (BMA) also said it ‘completely rejects’ the policy, arguing it would be an ‘unacceptable’ addition to GP’s workloads. 

Labour also accused the Government of ‘losing the plot’ over the plans. 

Seeing a GP because you of a cold or because you feel cold? A Government proposal to get family doctors to prescribe energy bill discounts has been slammed by patients and unions

The proportion of GP appointments that were face-to-face rose slightly to 64.8 per cent last month, up from 64.1 per cent in May

One in six appointments in the country lasted up to just five minutes last month, with even higher proportions seen in some areas of the country. NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board saw 20 per cent of patients in five minutes or less

A senior Government official said the GP plan was ‘something that we are interested in looking at’ but that it was a ‘long way off completion’.

The UK’s energy regulator Ofgem, is expected to hike the cap on energy bills from £1,971 to around £3,600 later this week. 

And latest forecasts suggest the average household energy prices could go above £6,000 per year next year.

An early April Fool’s joke? Lölly, who lives in London, couldn’t believe the proposal to have GP’s prescribe energy bills as serious, saying simply ‘there aren’t enough appointments’ 

Gareth Copplestone-Jones, an IT consultant from Birmingham, said the proposal was ‘bonkers’ adding he has to wait two to three weeks for a GP appointment as it its 

A women called Siân said the proposal had come from someone who had never had to call up a GP surgery in the early hours in a desperate bid to get an appointment 

Concerns over rising energy bills on health led NHS leaders to warn last week the UK faced a ‘humanitarian crisis’ this winter.

‘I really don’t see how GPs have a role in this at all, they are not social workers’ he said.

Some patients also took to social media to blast the policy. 

Lölly, who lives in London, wrote on Twitter that there aren’t appointments available for Britons with health issues right now, before adding energy discounts to the mix.

‘There aren’t enough appointments for patients to see their GPs about physical and mental illness to start with, let alone GPs doing prescriptions for heating bills,’ they said.

Gareth Copplestone-Jones, an IT consultant from Birmingham, said the idea was ‘bonkers’.

‘I have to wait two to three weeks for a GP appointment as it is,’ he said.

And Siân said the proposal had obviously come from someone who had never battled to get a GP appointment in the first place. 

‘Tories are so out of touch. It’s like they’ve never tried to get a GP appointment, facing the 8am “will they all be gone before my call gets answered” game,’ she said. 

Official figures suggest half of sick Britons have not seen a GP in a year, with the most common reason being they find it too difficult to get an appointment.

The NHS’ annual GP Patient Survey – of 719,000 patients in England – found 55 per cent who needed an appointment in the 12 months to April failed to secure one, up from 42 per cent the previous year.

The main reason for a quarter of patients was that it was too difficult to book one, while a fifth said they did not want to burden the NHS. 

Even those who do get an appointment struggle to see their doctor in person.

Only around 65 per cent of appointments were made face-to-face in June, the latest month with figures, down from nearly 80 per cent before the pandemic. 

The latest NHS statistics show there were 27,558 full-time-equivalent GPs in the workforce last month. This is about 2,000 fewer doctors than in September 2015.

BMA England’s GP committee deputy chair, Dr David Wrigley, said the idea that GP’s would have the time to support people with their bills ‘beggar’s belief’. 

‘At a time when GPs are already overwhelmed with the greatest workforce crisis and longest waiting lists in memory, this addition to their workload is totally unacceptable,’ he said. 

‘In these next few months GPs already have to worry about delivering the Covid and flu vaccination programmes that will be necessary to see the NHS through the winter, on top of their daily crushing workload and the enormous Covid backlog we now see.’

He added the union utterly rejected the idea family doctors should pick up the work of Britain’s welfare system.  

‘They do not have the time or the skills to do the work of the welfare system,’ he said. 

‘The Government has not discussed this with us in any form – floating these sorts of proposals via the media is deeply unprofessional.’

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘The Conservatives have lost the plot on the cost-of-living crisis and haven’t got a clue about the level of pressure on the NHS.’

Matthew Taylor, Tony Blair‘s former chief adviser and chief executive of the group, said more elderly people will die as their homes turn cold and some will go hungry in an effort to afford energy.

The NHS Confederation has repeatedly pushed for harsher and longer Covid restrictions to protect the NHS – as recently as April. 

Another GP shakeup that will see cycling and walking are to be prescribed by family doctors has been announced today. 

The pilot scheme to be rolled out later this year aims to cut rates of cancer and heart disease by encouraging people to take more exercise. 

It is also hoped it will ease the burden on the NHS, as well as reduce congestion on the roads as people stop using their cars for short journeys.