A shortage of doctors has forced one in six GP surgeries to suspend non-emergency appointments, a study has revealed. At critical periods such as staff holidays, patients are questioned on the phone and only those judged to be seriously ill are allowed an appointment. In the survey of 769 GPs, 16.5 per cent said they had been forced to temporarily cancel routine appointments in the previous 12 months. Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard of the Royal College of GPs said: 'The pressures GPs and our teams are working under are unsustainable. Dr Martin Tant, from Alford, Lincolnshire, said his surgery stopped allowing patients to make routine appointments because they were fully booked for a month.

Source: Daily Mail May 23, 2018 23:37 UTC