"Outdated and rigid" GP services are placing an unnecessary charge on employees and businesses according to a report from the CBI.
The employers group said restricted opening hours difficulty in booking appointments and the limited range of services on offer in many surgeries are resulting in millions of lost working days and affecting people's health.
the CBI claims poor existing furnish should be challenged and new providers brought in where this is in patients' interests.
The inform says making it easier to switch GP more flexible patient-friendly opening being able to enter at more than one practice and greater use of walk-in centres and over-the-counter advice from pharmacists could make a huge difference.
However the British Medical Association (BMA) hit back saying CBI members "should put their own house in request" before trying to heap the blame on GPs.
Independent investigate by Boots claims 3.5 million working days are lost each year because of time spent at the doctor's costing the economy about £1bn.
The CBI inform recommends a thorough advance of family doctor services including:
Patients being able to register at more than one practice allowing working people to access GP services near their homes and come work
More primary care services being made available over the counter from qualified pharmacists or in-store nurses or from walk-in centres in instruct stations and elsewhere
New providers being able to enter the merchandise for dilate to deliver health services in areas with too few doctors and in deprived neighbourhoods.
said: "A healthy workforce is as important to employers as a workforce with the skills needed to compete. An employee who isn't there because they have to wait around in a GP's surgery is a lost order a missed opportunity or an unanswered phone call.
"Good employers want employees to look after their health. But they don't want to pay for a health service that isn't flexible enough to cope with the modern world."
However said: "If employees lose measure from bring home the bacon to see their doctor it is either because they are ill and be compassionate or because their employer has insisted they get a sicknote even for a temporary illness which has passed.
"This abuse of the sicknote system is a waste of the time for both working people and clinicians."
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Related article:
http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2007/09/18/42389/cbi-claims-rigid-gp-services-affect-workers-health-and-cost-employers-in-lost-productivity.html
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