Fantasy of the 48 hour wait to see a GP

Ministers have been accused of living in "a fantasy world" after new evidence contradicted Government claims that almost everyone can see a GP within 48 hours. A YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph suggests that almost half of patients cannot get an appointment to see a family doctor within two days, despite the fact that this is supposed to be a key Government achievement.

The survey of nearly 2,500 adults also indicates that there is little public support for Tony Blair's idea that patients should be given a choice of hospital.

The waiting time results are particularly embarrassing because Lord Warner, a health minister, issued a news release in May saying that "almost everyone in England can now see a GP within 48 hours". He put the figure at 99.98 per cent.

YouGov found that only 44 per cent of respondents said they were able to see a GP within that target.

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said the reason for the discrepancy was that the official statistics measured the waits experienced by patients who had seen a GP. They did not include people who might have rung their surgery and given up because they failed to obtain an appointment.

The official figures are compiled by primary care trusts and Mr Lansley said that some trusts were alerting surgeries when surveys were going to be carried out, so that doctors could make sure that backlogs were cleared.

A Healthcare Commission report published last month also cast doubt on the Government's claim, although its figure for people having to wait more than two days to see a GP was lower than YouGov's at 25 per cent.

Mr Lansley said: "Ministers are living in a fantasy world of their own statistics. The reality is that people cannot get appointments with their GPs when they want to."

One of the Government's new targets is for patients to be given a choice of four or five hospitals when they need an operation.

But, in a worrying finding for the Prime Minister, who has personally championed choice, YouGov found that this was not a key demand for most patients. Asked to choose from a number of possible NHS priorities, only five per cent said they wanted a choice of hospital. The top priority, chosen by 41 per cent, was being able to see the same GP every time.

Overall, 76 per cent of patients were very satisfied or fairly satisfied with the services offered by their GP. This finding concurs with the Government's latest patient satisfaction survey.

A quarter of all the patients said the service had improved; 23 per cent said it had become worse; and 43 per cent said it had stayed the same.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, the chairman of the GPs' committee of the British Medical Association, said: "Until we get more doctors and nurses, there will always be pressure on appointments.

"If you have a 24/48-hour target, it inevitably means that you will be able to book fewer appointments unless you expect GPs to work 30 hours a day."

Dr Meldrum supported the Tory claim that the system for collecting statistics on waiting times was open to abuse.

"We are aware that some trusts have given practices a wink and nod as to when they will phone," he said.

The BMA says the nation needs 10,000 more GPs. The Department of Health says it has met its target of providing an extra 2,000 family doctors but that this does not take into account the number of doctors who work part-time. A department spokesman said that reader surveys relied on people's memories and that patients might forget that their problem had been resolved without seeing a doctor within two days.

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