Responding to the Health and Social Care Secretary’s pledge to clamp down on wasteful GP bureaucracy Ruth Rankine, primary care director at the NHS Confederation, said:

“GPs and their teams will welcome the recognition from the Secretary of State that they are having to balance unnecessary bureaucracy and workload around delivering good patient care. The primary care sector is trying to manage rising demand from patients who often have more complex or multiple conditions while parts of the country do not have enough GPs, and the low financial settlement has left them doing more for less.

“Our members tell us that integrated patient records across systems and interoperable IT systems are two key ways to reduce the bureaucratic burden on GP surgeries. We recognise there is an opportunity to look at digital solutions to significantly streamline current processes, which is already happening in several parts of the country. Part of this is making it easier for hospitals and GPs to communicate, talk and share information about patients.

“The Secretary of State has already pledged to shift the NHS from analogue to digital. We welcome this ambition, and an important part will be making sure the health service has the right digital infrastructure in place to allow for the smooth flow of patients and information between different organisations from primary care and hospitals to community and mental health services.

“We look forward to working with NHS England to identify what needs to improve and sharing innovative approaches.”