Red tape hampers UK patient care, doctors say

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Red tape and bureaucracy are undermining the role of family doctors in Britain and hampering the care of patients, according to a survey published on Friday.

In a poll conducted by Pulse, a newspaper for general practitioners (GPs), more than 90 percent of family doctors said their role as the central point of approach for a patient’s care needed protection.

The survey of more than 1,000 doctors also showed that 76 percent thought their practices were under threat from rising bureaucracy.

"GPs are so bogged down with managerial tasks, they spend hours punching codes into their computers instead of looking after patients,” Richard Hoey, clinical editor of Pulse, told AMN Health.

He added that the central role of doctors had been undermined by a series of initiatives.

He cited the example that patients could now get some prescriptions from pharmacists and nurses. This could make it easier in some cases but GPs could also lose sight of what the patient got from other parties involved in their care.

“There are benefits for these procedures on a quantifying level, but there is a loss of quality of contact between the GP and the patient,” he added. 

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