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Professor Keith Willett: We don’t expect the demand [for care] to change this year, but what we do need to do, is the demand on each element of the service can be changed. So, for instance, we know that 15% of people, who tried last year to get a GP appointment, were unable to achieve one in the time they wanted and half of those turned up at an urgent care centre or A&E. That’s, we can look at the way primary care is available to people, that’s number one…  

Thomas Moore: But Clare Gerada said it’s not a problem, it’s not the GPs, they’re unfairly taking the blame.  

KW:  We’re not, I’m not blaming the GPs, we’re, there’s no blame in this. Everybody is under pressure, but you can see from that example that by changing the way we deliver services we can start to address the demand. We can do the same thing in terms of the ambulance services and how much, how many patients they treat, at the scene, rather than transfer and that’s about them having the right information. And we know there’s a significant variation across the country, as to how many patients they do treat and how many they transfer. And then when we get to hospital, whether we have senior clinicians involved right at the outset making decisions. We can see again a significant variation in the country, about how that will significantly reduce the demand and the number of patients being admitted. So, the demand won’t change but our response to each of the steps in the pathway will be able to manage that demand, better for the patients and also better for the service. But in the long-term we need to change the system, I suspect, quite radically.  

KW: We know that between 15 and 30% of patients who turn up to be treated at A&E, could have been treated in a general practice. Now, they didn’t know that, but that’s because the system didn’t obviously make itself available to them.  

KW: We would look to the, to the public to understand the issues and when the situation does get difficult, to take the advice that I’ve suggested about phoning first, to get the right advice, to go to the right place, to think of using your general practitioner or indeed your pharmacist, your local pharmacist, they have, give a lot of advice for minor ailments.  

TM: What guarantee can you offer patients that they will get safe care in A&E this winter?  

KW: We are doing absolutely everything we can and I’ve explained to you in detail all the things that are being done nationally to help the localities, sort out their particular issues. So we are, there’s more money gone in from the government. We have put together the groups of staff that live and breathe these problems, the general practitioners, those from the hospitals, those from the ambulance services, and with patients, and those from social care, to give every opportunity to deal with that.  

KW: Sitting here in my role, I can’t individually look at every patient, but safety will be the number one priority for patients. And if that means some patients have to wait longer, then that unfortunately will be an issue, but safety is the priority.  
 
ENDS