Struggle to access GPs 'means more ambulance calls'
People are turning to ambulances to get treatment as they are unable to access face-to-face GP appointments in the region, it is feared.
Health chiefs have said there has been an increase in phone and video appointments to help cope with demand caused by the pandemic.
But concerns have been raised over an inability to access GPs in person, with a knock-on effect on the ambulance service.
It comes after West Midlands Ambulance Service bosses warned patients are being put at "catastrophic risk" of harm amid handover delays.
Councillor Vera Waters, scrutinising a report at Walsall Council, said: "Face-to-face appointments and getting to see doctors is an impossibility and that is all over the borough. People are complaining about this.
"I think there is a possibility that people are using ambulances and dialling 999 when they don’t really need an ambulance. But it’s because they cannot get the care they want from their doctors so are asking to go to hospital."
Geraint Griffiths-Dale, managing director of Walsall, Black Country and West Birmingham CCG said: “The ambulance service is incredibly busy at the moment.
“I’ve been an urgent care lead in the NHS for probably over 20 years and I think the urgent care system is the busiest I’ve ever seen at this point of the year. Nationally, about 40 per cent of ambulance calls could have gone to another service."
To try to address the concerns of a lack of physical appointments, Mr Griffiths-Dale said extra staff have been recruited to support primary care services.
He also said initiatives were in place for people to see doctors outside of their own practice including the GP Extended Access Programme and the Urgent Treatment Centre at Walsall Manor Hospital, whose hours have been extended this week.
