The report said outpatients are subjected long waits to receive a diagnosis or treatment, poor communication, and difficulty in trying to navigate services.
The NHS’s outpatient care services are “no longer fit for purpose” and need reform, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has said.
Outpatient care typically describes care where patients engage with specialist medics to receive planned tests, diagnoses, and treatment. The report said that the current approach “too often results in poor patient and clinician experience.”
According to the report, outpatients are subjected to long waits to receive a diagnosis or treatment, poor communication, and difficulty and confusion in trying to navigate services. It also said that follow-up appointments are not always aligned to patients’ needs.
Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “‘Too many patients tell us that outpatient care feels like an uphill battle, with delays, confusion, and a lack of joined-up communication that leaves them feeling powerless.
“Our joint report with the Royal College of Physicians marks an important step towards the kind of reform patients have long been calling for. Planned specialist care must be built around the needs of real people, not rigid systems.”
Archaic, Disjointed, Ineffective
The report comes in response to Lord Ara Darzi’s review of the NHS, which highlighted the rise in waiting lists for planned care.
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The BMA calculated the median waiting time for patients waiting to start treatment was 14.2 weeks, observing this to be a “significant increase” on the 7.5 weeks from February 2020, in the pre-COVID-19 pandemic era.
Dr. Theresa Barnes, clinical lead for outpatients at the RCP, said: “NHS outpatient care is fundamentally no longer fit for purpose. It is archaic, disjointed and ultimately ineffective for both patients and staff.
“It has remained largely unchanged for decades, despite advances in technology. Most people on NHS waiting lists are waiting for an outpatient appointment, patient care is increasingly complex, and the medical workforce is frustrated and desperate for change.”
10-Year Health Plan
Both the RCP and the Patients Association have called on the government to make outpatient reform central to their 10-Year Health Plan.
The government’s 10-Year Health Plan aims to reform the health service by creating more access to care in the community, improving GP access, offering more preventative care, and making better use of digital services, such as online consultations.
The RCP says any reform of health and social care must also consider the changing needs of patients. By 2035, nearly one in five people over the age of 65 are expected to be living with four or more long-term health conditions, suggesting demand for outpatient services will continue to rise.
The RCP says senior doctors are calling for a shift towards prevention and early intervention, along with more timely care that is flexible and delivered closer to where patients live.
Guys and St. Thomas’s Hospital in London, on Oct. 14, 2011. Georgie Gillard/PA Wire
A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email: “Our 10 Year Health Plan will fix the broken outpatient system—shifting more care to the community so patients can be seen in the right setting, and moving the NHS from analogue to digital to tackle poor communication and delays.
“We have already made progress on our mission to cut waiting lists—delivering an extra 3 million appointments and cutting the waiting list by 219,000 since July.”
NHS England Axed
One major change that the government has already initiated in its reform of health services is to axe NHS England, bringing its functions back under government control.
The report detailed that despite record levels of funding, the health service was facing significant challenges, including cancer care in the UK falling behind other countries, waiting times for hospital procedures ballooning in 15 years, and waiting times at A&E causing thousands of extra deaths annually.