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CBI wants GP visits off the clock

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CBI wants GP visits off the clock

Family doctors are costing business a billion pounds a year because it is so hard to see them outside normal working hours, employers have said - a claim which has been challenged forcefully by the British Medical Association. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said millions of staff were forced to take time off work to visit GPs because they could not get evening or weekend appointments. The employers' group wants patients to be able to register at more than one practice so they have access to GP services near their work as well as at home. A CBI report says each year 3.5 million working days were lost to visits to GPs - four times as many days as were lost last year to industrial action. John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said: 'Good employers want employees to look after their health. But they don't want to pay for a health service that isn't flexible enough to cope with the modern world. In the 21st century it should be possible to have a doctor close to work and close to home so that we can all get on with our lives with the minimum disruption.' The British Medical Association (BMA) said the real problem was the failure of employers to provide their staff with a proper occupational health service. In a firm riposte to the CBI's claims, Dr Laurence Buckman, chair of the BMA's GPs Committee, said: 'The CBI and its members should put their own house in order before trying to heap the blame on general practice. If employees lose time from work to see their doctor it is either because they are ill and need care or because their employer has insisted they get a sick note even for a temporary illness which has passed. This abuse of the sick note system is a waste of the time of both working people and clinicians.' He added: 'If the CBI really wishes to change things for their employees, a good starting point would be to talk to the people providing care to see if things can move forward. If its members think their staff are seeking medical appointments without any real cause, that seems to point to the need for a better occupational health service. Many employers seem to regard their sick employees' time as their own. It isn't. NHS general practice is there to treat patients and their care is what comes first and last.'

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