Dorset GPs 'doing everything they can' for patients
There have been concerns about access to services during the pandemic
Dorset's health bosses are reassuring patients that GPs are 'responding extremely well under circumstances'.
That's after concerns were raised about people struggling to get appointments.
There have been reports of people being encouraged to go straight to A and E, because doctors practices are too busy.
BCP Councillor Diana Butler raised the issue - questioning whether surgeries should be doing more to respond to calls.
Sally Sandcraft - Dorset's Director of Primary Care - has responded by reminding us that the whole system is under pressure:
"It's quite easy to have a focus on the emergency departments, because that's where the focal point has been, but actually every part of the system - whether that be social care, primary care, community services, all of the hospitals, have been under extreme pressure when it comes to demand."
Health bosses in the county are reassuring us that GPs, and other NHS services, are 'doing everything they can' to help patients.
Director of Primary Care, Sally Sandcraft, says we're actually in a strong position locally:
"We are really extremely lucky across our area for the quality of the general practice we've got. I think we're the only area that has all 'outstanding' or 'good' CQC ratings across the country and we also features very highly in the GP survey we did last year, in spite of the pandemic."