The Daily Mail's campaign to win the right for all patients to have face-to-face care from their family doctor has received a tidal wave of public support.
Some 85 per cent of Britons believe they should be entitled to an 'in-person' appointment with their GP – and not be fobbed off with a remote consultation by phone or video.
More than half (53 per cent) say they struggle to obtain a face-to-face appointment, with nearly three in ten (27 per cent) who have asked to see their GP in person in the past year saying they have been told no.
More than four out of five (83 per cent) say they prefer traditional in-person consultations, and nearly two thirds (65 per cent) say illnesses are likely to get worse if they are treated remotely.
The findings of the J L Partners survey for this newspaper come after Britain's top GP sparked controversy by defending the huge rise in online consultations by GPs since the pandemic outbreak.
Some 85 per cent of Britons believe they should be entitled to an 'in-person' appointment with their GP – and not be fobbed off with a remote consultation by phone or video
Before the pandemic, four in five GP consultations were in person, but the latest figure for July is under six in ten.
Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said Covid safety curbs and high demand meant it was impossible for family doctors to offer all patients an in-person appointment just because they would 'like' one.
But the Mail survey reveals the public overwhelmingly rejects his argument. A massive 95 per cent say 'face-to-face' consultations result in a more accurate diagnosis – and 75 per cent say the success of the vaccine rollout means Covid is no longer a valid reason for GPs to decline to see people at local surgeries.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'I hope everyone from GPs to government will listen to this poll, as it shows what the public really want. They must act on it. There is no way that Covid can any longer be seen as an excuse to stop holding as many in-person appointments.'
The findings of the survey come after Britain's top GP Martin Marshall sparked controversy by defending the huge rise in online consultations by GPs since the pandemic outbreak.
Oncologist Professor Karol Sikora, former director of the World Health Organisation's cancer programme, also called on ministers to take action on the basis of the Mail's poll.
He said cancers will be missed if GPs did not get back to seeing more patients face to face, adding that doctors were using Covid was an 'excuse' not to go back to pre-pandemic levels of in- person appointments.
Professor Sikora said: 'The Government have got to listen to this poll and get GPs back to normal. They must insist that all patients with new symptoms must be seen in person. Remote appointments are okay for follow-ups but not for new patients.
'It's very difficult to assess people over Zoom and the telephone, and you will miss cancer diagnoses. If symptoms persist, the cancer will eventually be diagnosed – but it could happen after a delay of several months.
'Face-to-face appointments really do make a difference. If you can't see a patient properly, you can't see how ill they really are. You can't examine them, you can't feel their lymph nodes, you can't feel their tummy, you can't listen to their chest.'
In one of the survey's most damning findings, 40 per cent say the reduction in traditional face-to-face care by GPs is designed to 'make the lives of GPs easier' – only 11 per cent say it is designed to improve the health of patients.
The poll shows enormous support for every aspect of the Mail's five-point campaign to revive in-person care.
Professor Marshall said about 80 per cent of GP appointments were conducted face to face prior to the pandemic, dropping to 10 per cent in the first wave. Now this figure is around 56 per cent
Professor Marshall added that remote consultations continue to play a role in reducing the spread of coronavirus
Our manifesto includes making face-to-face appointments the default and that anyone who wants to see their family doctor in person
