Why you may have to phone a call centre to see your GP for a GP appointment

MAKING AN appointment to see your GP could in future be handledby an NHS Direct call centre.

The telephone and internet service is in talks with nine GPconsortia over handling urgent calls for hundreds of thousands ofpatients. One consortium in Surrey, called ESyDoc, is discussingusing NHS Direct to book GP appointments during the day, as well asfor urgent calls, in or out of hours. Patients would ring theGovernment's new 111 number and NHS Direct call handlers would givepatients a range of options including booking an appointment attheir practice.

Board papers for a meeting of NHS Direct on 31 January read:"With the changes taking place to the commissioning landscape it isclear that relationships with GP commissioning consortia are the keyto the future of NHS Direct's services."

NHS Direct says discussions have been held with one unidentifiedconsortium - since revealed as ESyDoc - to improve urgent care andto trial "in hours triage and booking systems".

Dr Brian Gaffney, the service's medical director and a GP inDownpatrick, Northern Ireland, told Pulse magazine: "We know as GPswe can't cope with demand for our practice appointments. We'remeeting with pathfinders and GPs are keen to work with us."

But in a statement later, Dr Gaffney said NHS Direct was "notplanning on taking over GP appointment booking". He added: "Anyservice that we develop would be in response to what localcommissioners want."

The 111 telephone number is being piloted in three areas, butonly for urgent calls. Last year, a report for the Department ofHealth said national or regional call centres could be set up tohandle GP appointments under a "radical" change to the system thatwould save millions of pounds. Yesterday, the department said therewere no plans for NHS Direct to take over GP appointment booking.

Karen Jennings, Unison's head of health, said: "GPs need toconsider the effect of replacing human contact with a bookingservice. We've all waited on the phone to get through to a callcentre, with irritating Muzak playing in the background.

"It's a hugely frustrating, depersonalised, even upsettingexperience, made even worse if you are ill or caring for a sickchild, or elderly relative. A properly funded receptionist, whoknows their patients, and can treat them with dignity, respect andurgency, is what patients want."