A TOP Bradford GP has hit back at mounting criticism levelled at doctors’ surgeries over patient waiting times and ongoing virtual appointments.

Dr Tamjeed Abdul Hakeem has given a robust defence of his profession after Councillor Zafar Iqbal (Bradford Moor) said people faced a serious struggle to get an appointment and branded virtual consultations potentially “unsafe” and “no longer necessary.”

Dr Hakeem, a GP from The Bradford Moor Practice at Barkerend Health Centre, said many GPs had been working “tirelessly” since the start of the pandemic, spending 10-12 hours a day in the practice.

He said he “now feels it is it is vital, for the benefit of Bradford patients, that a balanced view is given” on the challenges currently facing GP practices across the district.

Dr Hakeem, who is also clinical director for Bradford City 5 Primary Care Network, which consists of 10 local GP practices looking after over 50,000 patients, said: “Firstly, the view that virtual consultations to curb Covid-19 spread are ‘no longer necessary’ in reality lacks foresight.

“Like most small size employers, GP practices have a limited number of clinical and non-clinical staff. If there is an outbreak of Covid-19 amongst our staff pool, the effect on the level of care we are able to offer our patients will be detrimental.

“We must therefore remain vigilant and insist on safe infection control amongst staff and our patients and minimise unnecessary physical contact. With the winter months coming, and the prediction that we will see a high number for flu infections, this is even more important.

“However, of course, all GP practices continue to see patients face-to-face wherever it is considered necessary.”

Dr Hakeem pointed out that NHS England had been “pushing” for more online services in GP practices even before Covid, partly due to a “large number of GPs retiring and not being replaced” over the past two decades.

He said robust controls and training were in place and added: “Online appointments have never intended to replace face-to-face appointments, rather they help ensure those who genuinely need face-to-face care can actually receive it.”

With this in mind, he said claims that serious conditions could be overlooked seemed more like “scaremongering.”

Dr Hakeem also dismissed suggestions that a lack of GP appointments was the cause of longer A&E waiting times. He said: “This doesn’t have any basis when compared against the realities of what we see on the ground. Unfortunately, some people - like it has “always” been the case - use A&E departments for minor ailments and for chronic illnesses. We need to encourage our population to use the highly trained local community pharmacists for minor ailments and generally make more use the e-Consult service at the GP practices for non-urgent conditions.

“Upon reviewing the latest data (Jun-21) available on NHS Digital we see that in fact 61% of appointments have been done face-to-face in Bradford district, exceeding the national split of 56%.”

However, Dr. Hakeem said he “empathises with frustrated patients who struggle to reach their GP practice over busy phone lines” and he “strongly encourages all GP practices to look at getting a telephone queuing system” in place.

He highlighted how ‘all GP surgeries now have an established online service offering in place (e-Consult), where patients are contacted back by their GP practice usually within 48 hours of sending a request and advises that patients with ‘non-urgent enquiries’ used this service to “free up the phone lines for urgent queries and for those who struggle to use the online services.”

He added that “All NHS services are under enormous pressure” and GP practices “currently have to triage all the requests and make clinical decisions to determine which patients require a home visit, should be seen face-to-face, via phone or video call.