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Patients could be forced to wait weeks to see their doctor as overstretched medics struggle to keep waiting times down during the busy winter period, said a leading Staffordshire GP.
Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said extended waiting times can pose a 'serious risk' to patients.
Dr Stokes-Lampard, a GP in Lichfield, said some patients are already waiting two or three weeks to see GPs for non-urgent matters such as suspect lumps or bleeding problems.
But if they are forced to wait three to four weeks 'the non-urgent stuff may be becoming urgent', she warned.
She said she was 'profoundly concerned' about how general practice will cope over the busy winter period – with particular worries about patients with long-term diseases.
If management of patients with chronic diseases is delayed so GPs can 'firefight' the urgent patients then the consequences could be 'very serious indeed', she added.
Winter woes have been a long-standing problem in the NHS with a lot of concern about hospital care.
But Dr Stokes-Lampard, said every peak in workload in A&E departments is magnified at GP surgeries which are 'already skating on thin ice'.
Asked if people with non-urgent needs would be forced to wait weeks to see their GP, she replied: "Absolutely.
"If you've suddenly developed a lump, or you've got a funny pain somewhere, you know it's not desperately urgent for you to see your GP today but you'd like to see a GP within a few days, you'd certainly like to see them within a week to 10 days because actually you're worried.
"If it's already taking some patients two to three weeks to get in to see a GP for the non-urgent stuff, then by the time three to four weeks has passed the non-urgent stuff may be becoming urgent."
