GP Advice and Guidance - Healthwatch response

The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) has today published a report about the Advice and Guidance process, through which GPs seek advice from consultants before deciding whether to formally refer a patient for specialist care. 

We were one of 19 organisations that spoke to the report’s authors.

HSSIB identified 30 examples of ‘near misses and incidents of patient harm, both physical and psychological’. These included ‘delayed or missed diagnoses and delays to care and treatment’.

Responding, our interim director of policy and external affairs, William Pett, said: 

"While the number of cases reflected a minority of the Advice and Guidance requests made during the investigation period, we were concerned to hear that patients had been harmed either through poor implementation of the process or a lack of capacity among clinicians to deal with requests.

“We welcome HSSIB’s call for a rapid evaluation by the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England of Advice and Guidance. NHS England has confirmed that this review is underway, and we urge it to complete and publish its findings as quickly as possible, so that the necessary steps can be taken to prevent any further harm.

“Now that GPs are being expected to use Advice and Guidance as a core part of their day-to-day work, we also believe there should be greater transparency about how long A&G responses take to be resolved for patients and whether patients feel well-informed about the process. 

"There should also be ongoing evaluation of whether A&G is ensuring that people can be treated simply and closer to home, or whether it is instead stalling necessary referrals to hospitals that should have been made in the first place.”