London patients have the worst access to GPs

PATIENTS in London have the worst access to GPs than anywhere else in the country, it was revealed yestderay.

Government guidelines state the sick should be able to visit a doctor within two working days. Yet Kingston is the only London trust where surgeries are seeing patients within this time.

More than half of health trusts 17 out of 31 in the capital are failing to meet the 48-hour target.

They include Westminster, Islington and Hammersmith and Fulham primary care trusts. This lottery over GP access is highlighted by health watchdog the Healthcare Commission (HC) in its annual NHS "Healthcheck".

Its report provides the most comprehensive rating of healthcare services ever undertaken. This is the first year the HC has polled patients on how easy it is for them to visit a doctor.

Poor levels of breast cancer screening and failure on waiting time targets are also to blame for London and the South East coming bottom in the country overall on health performance.

A gap has developed for the first time between London trusts and the other 318 around the country.

Only 12 out of 73 London trusts scored excellent for quality of services 16 per cent compared with a national average of 28 per cent.

Six trusts scored "double weak" and two of these are in London Brent Teaching Primary Care Trust and the Royal National Othopaedic Hospital NHS Trust.

Anna Walker, HC chief executive, said NHS London was taking steps to improve healthcare in the capital.

But she warned more action was needed to increase GP numbers, reconfigure failing hospitals and get Primary Care Trusts working together on commissioning services.

She said: "The issues that have brought London's performance down are access to GPs, access to breast screening, hospital waiting times and A&E performance."

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley blamed new health reforms, such as plans for supersurgeries for the capital's poor healthcare performance.

He said: "NHS London's recent obsession with imposing polyclinics on local communities and shutting down A&E and maternity units has meant it's taken its eye off the ball."

lThe Royal Marsden was awarded a "double excellent" for three years running the only trust in the country to achieve this rating. Health secretary Alan Johnson sent the hospital a personal letter of congratulation. Earlier this year, the hospital was severely damaged after a major fire.