Some patients 'struggling to book with GP', watchdog says

Too many patients are struggling to book GP appointments in England, the health watchdog has told the BBC.

Patients at one in six surgeries have problems booking appointments, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said after an inspection of 336 practices.

The watchdog also raised concerns over variations in how serious incidents were reported and investigated.

Prof Steve Field, the CQC's chief inspector of GPs, said most practices offered safe and effective care.

"We believe that the vast majority of GP surgeries in England are providing good care for their patients but unfortunately the vast majority are being let down by a small minority and unfortunately, we have seen some examples in our pilot phase of some really poor care," he said.

"What I want is that all patients have access to really good care wherever they are and we will make sure that happens."

The CQC said some practices did not have robust and consistent systems for reporting incidents, or a culture of identifying where things had gone wrong and learning from them.

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