Patients could be banned from A&E unless GP refers them

NHS officials are considering imposing tighter restrictions on A&E services
AFP/Getty Images
Martin Coulter13 October 2017

NHS patients could be banned from attending A&E departments unless they have been referred by a GP or the 111 service, a health official has said.

The "talk before you walk" scheme would mean patients could be barred from using A&E services without first seeking advice elsewhere.

Patients would need to gain approval from either their GP or by calling the NHS 111 advice line before attending an emergency department under the scheme.

The news comes shortly after some emergency services in London were revealed to be "under immense pressure" and posing a "significant risk" to patient safety.

Dr Helen Thomas, national medical advisor for integrated urgent care at NHS England, told a conference that they "may well pilot" such a scheme, were it to receive political support.

She said: "Jeremy Hunt has mentioned to some of my colleagues, maybe we should have a 'talk before you walk' and we may well pilot that.

"I think it's been done in other countries where they've actually said you can't come to the emergency department until you've talked on referral or you have to have that sort of docket that you're given by having talked down the phone and being told you should come in."

But the British Medical Association (BMA) said forcing ill patients to go through an extra layer of bureaucracy would cause further delays and was too risky.

A spokesman for NHS England said it did not intend to go ahead with the scheme. They said: "It is wrong to suggest or imply that the NHS will do anything other than continue to provide A&E care for all patients who need it, nor are there any plans to prevent patients from visiting A&Es alongside the other options now available for non-urgent care such as NHS 111 or urgent treatment centres."

A Department of Health spokesman said ministers and officials discuss many ideas without them ever reaching the stage of being proposed as policy.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT