People going private for operations and scans is piling extra pressure on overstretched GP surgeries and squeezing standard care for NHS patients, according to a survey covered in The Guardian newspaper.

The article reports that many GPs say that they are increasingly having to interpret questionable health checks done privately, organise blood tests or scans and manage additional administration related to private care. Some say more of their hours are being taking up providing follow-up appointments after patients paid for treatment or surgery abroad.

One family doctor quoted in the article said having to deal with questionable medical requests for patients from private healthcare providers that “we don’t clinically agree with” was taking time and appointments away from standard NHS patients.

In the survey of 860 GPs reviewed by The Guardian and carried out by Pulse, the family doctors’ magazine, 46% of family doctors report that their workload has increased amid the surge in private healthcare use. One in 10 said their workload had “significantly increased” as a result.

Dr John Puntis, the co-chair of the Keep Our NHS Public campaign group, was quoted as saying: “This is a sorry picture not only of hard-pressed GPs having their workloads and stress levels unnecessarily increased, but also patients duped by the private sector into paying out cash for sometimes dubious tests, diagnoses and procedures without adequate provision for follow-up advice and care.”

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