A LEADING Swindon GP has criticised a £100m investment to create GP triage units in hospitals to ease the pressure on A&E units.

Dr Peter Swinyard from Toothill’s Phoenix Surgery spoke out in the aftermath of Wednesday’s budget announcement to develop onsite GP facilities at A&E departments by next winter.

The Government says this will allow for more in-depth assessment for patients illnesses and reduce waiting times as well as pressure on the health service.

Dr Swinyard, who has been a GP for more than three decades said he wasn’t in favour of the radical new scheme.

He said: “I don’t think it’s remotely possible that it will work. It relies on the fact that we have a surplus of GPs in the country which is certainly not the case. There is a chronic recruitment problem and this will only make things worse.

“I think it will appeal to younger GPs who want that experience working in a casualty department but I don’t know anyone who would be tempted by this because it is not an area GPs train with the idea of going into.”

Dr Swinyard said he welcomed the idea of investment for the health service but thought it was going into the wrong area.

He said: “I think £100m to be invested in health services is a great thing but in the grand scheme of things it is a drop in the ocean compared to the underfunding that GP services are facing at the moment.

“Instead of this I would have liked to have seen the money go into GP surgeries which are notoriously underfunded.”

The measure was intended to relieve the pressure on notoriously overcrowded Accident and Emergency departments and prevent deaths through long waiting times.

The Government believes too many people mistakenly go to A&E when they could see a GP instead.

GP leaders say the new scheme would divert critical GP resource away from surgeries, and see an an increased amount of people attending hospitals for medical care.

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association, said:

“Having GPs in A&E won’t reduce admissions – if anything this could have the effect of attracting more patients to hospitals.

“The Government also needs to explain how it will fund and recruit GPs to work on site at hospitals when there already aren’t enough to meet the needs of the public.

“Many are already working in practices with permanent vacancies which they are unable to fill, despite Government promises at the last election to recruit 5,000 more doctors into general practice.”