{"id":303643,"date":"2025-12-07T18:03:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T18:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/303643\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T18:03:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T18:03:04","slug":"thousands-of-patients-in-england-at-risk-as-gp-referrals-vanish-into-nhs-black-hole-gps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/303643\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of patients in England at risk as GP referrals vanish into NHS \u2018black hole\u2019 | GPs"},"content":{"rendered":"

One in seven people in England<\/a> who need hospital care are not receiving it because the referral by their GP gets lost, rejected or delayed, the NHS\u2019s own patient watchdog has found.<\/p>\n

Three-quarters (75%) of these patients trapped in this \u201creferrals black hole\u201d suffer harm to their physical or mental health as a result of not being added to the waiting list for tests or treatment.<\/p>\n

Communication with patients is so unreliable that seven in ten (70%) of those affected only find out they have not been put on a waiting list after chasing up the NHS because they have not been told that a hold-up has occurred. In some cases referrals that the GP has agreed to make do not even get sent from their surgery to the hospital, Healthwatch England<\/a>\u2019s findings revealed.<\/p>\n

Its research established that 14% of all referrals are getting \u201cstuck\u201d between GPs<\/a> and hospitals, leaving patients in the dark, and anxious about when they will be seen and treated.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehind every delayed, lost or rejected referral is a human story of pain, stress and uncertainty\u201d, said Chris McCann, Healthwatch\u2019s deputy chief executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile improvements have been made, too many people remain stuck in this referral \u2018black hole\u2019, telling us that they\u2019re \u2018existing not living\u2019 due to delays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel Power, the chief executive of the Patients Association, said the findings were \u201cdeeply alarming\u201d and that delays to referrals can leave some patients afraid to leave their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen seven out of 10 people only find out their referral failed because they chased it up themselves, something is badly wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are people already anxious about their health, already stressed waiting for treatment \u2013 and then they discover they weren\u2019t even in the queue. While they wait, their conditions could be getting worse,\u201d added Power.<\/p>\n

Healthwatch\u2019s findings are based on a YouGov survey of a nationally representative survey of 2,622 adults in England who a GP had referred for tests or treatment in the last year.<\/p>\n

They raise questions about how accurate the NHS<\/a> waiting list is as a true reflection of the number of people who need care \u2013 6.24 million people are waiting for 7.39m tests or treatments \u2013 and how good the service is at keeping patients informed about the progress of their referral.<\/p>\n

Just over half (53%) of everyone who is referred seeks medical help or advice while they wait for the NHS to act on it, the survey found. While 7% go private, one in five (20%) asks for help from other parts of the NHS, such as a different GP or urgent care services. \u201cThese results suggest that referral delays may increase pressure on other NHS services\u201d, Healthwatch\u2019s report noted.<\/p>\n

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One patient \u2013 Patrick, 70, an ex-NHS worker from Milton Keynes \u2013 told the watchdog how he had been waiting since July to see a specialist about pain in his hip and back.<\/p>\n

After his GP referred him, though, he heard nothing about when he would be seen. \u201cWhen I rang they were nice on the phone but they couldn\u2019t give me any good news. It could be as long as a year before I get an appointment, and that\u2019s just to take the first step in a long process.\u201d<\/p>\n

His pain has become so bad that he is struggling to undertake daily tasks such as shopping, driving or even putting on his shoes. He does not know when he will be seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m stuck in limbo,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The 14% of people whose referral gets lost, rejected or denied is an improvement on the 21% who were experiencing the same fate when the watchdog undertook similar research in 2023.<\/p>\n

Since then ministers and health service chiefs have tackled the problem by making it easier for patients to track the progress of their referral using the NHS app and using pharmacies to help people with suspected cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet, despite progress, many patients still report that poor communication, delays and uncertainty caused by long waits are affecting their health, wellbeing and ability to work,\u201d Healthwatch said.<\/p>\n

One in four (23%) of people are dissatisfied with the referrals process, it found. Public satisfaction with the NHS generally has fallen to just 21% \u2013 the lowest level \u2013 the most recent British Social Attitudes survey found.<\/p>\n

A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said the situation the findings revealed \u201cis not acceptable\u201d. But improvements have been made since the research was done in March, the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n

They include the introduction in September of Jess\u2019s rule<\/a>, under which GPs are meant to seek a second opinion if they cannot diagnose a patient\u2019s illness after three appointments.<\/p>\n

In addition the DHSC is putting an extra \u00a31.1bn into general practice, recruiting extra family doctors and cutting red tape so GPs can spend more time with patients, the spokesperson added. Family doctors are also now encouraged to seek \u201cadvice and guidance\u201d from a specialist hospital doctor about referrals. And patient satisfaction with primary care has risen from 60% in July 2024 to 75%.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been clear that it will take time to turn around the NHS but we are starting to see improvements. There\u2019s still a long way to go but we are beginning to see the green shoots of recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One in seven people in England who need hospital care are not receiving it because the referral by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-303643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}