Retired GPs encouraged to come back and help with demand
They are to help with online consultations
Retired GPs across Bristol are being asked to dust off their stethoscopes to help cope with demand. Health bosses are asking them to help with online consultations by doing them from home.
The move is among a raft of measures to make more GP appointments available across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire as practices struggle to keep up with patient demand.
On Wednesday, members of South Gloucestershire’s health scrutiny committee heard about a set of schemes to expand general practice capacity during an update from Jenny Bowker, head of primary care development at the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
But there's some concern among local councillors that more isn't being done to increase face-to-face appointments. Kingswood councillor Andrea Reid said “by far the most common problem” for residents has been an “inability” to get face-to-face appointments with a GP.
She asked whether the CCG would be making more face-to-face appointments available or would just be increasing the number of remote consultations.
Ms Bowker said it would be a “combination of the two”.