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Doctors are pressing ahead with plans for industrial action as the furious row over face-to-face appointments intensifies.
The British Medical Association last night said it will ballot practices to see if they support taking action to reduce their 'unmanageable workload'.
And it accused the Government and NHS England of 'adding fuel to the fire' by failing to back down on plans to improve patient access.
Earlier this month, Health Secretary Sajid Javid unveiled a nine-point package of measures to tackle the difficulties of seeing a GP in person.
It followed a Daily Mail campaign to improve the number of appointments held in-person. Currently just 61 per cent are face-to-face, down from 80 per cent before the pandemic.
British Medical Association said it will ballot practices to see if they support taking action to reduce an 'unmanageable workload' amid row over face-to-face appointments (stock image)
The £250million plan would mean doctors cannot deny a face-to-face appointment unless there is a good clinical reason – and surgeries which don't deliver enough in-person consultations would be named and shamed.
But this sparked a row with the BMA who urged GPs to refuse to comply with the plan which they called a
