On the 1st April 2026, NHS England introduced mandatory advice and guidance for GPs and primary care professionals. This means clinicians mu
Hello, UK peeps - especially those of you in England. The shitty Government is trying to cut the huge NHS waiting list numbers in England not by improving secondary care resourcing, but by making it harder for patients to get a referral to consultants and other secondary care services. Except in the case of urgent referrals where cancer is suspected, GPs must now write to consultants and other secondary care providers asking for advice and guidance on the patient's care. They have always had the discretion to do this, but now it's mandatory. This means that it's likely a proportion of patients will simply be bounced back to their GPs for their care to be managed in the community, and no further investigation will be undertaken. It undermines the role of GPs as clinicians and will increase their workload at a time when they're already overworked and under-resourced. But perhaps even more worrying is that those people who already find it difficult to access timely and effective medical care - e.g. people from ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled people, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ people, people living in deprived areas - are going to have yet another obstacle put in their way.
Please sign and share this petition if you're in the UK - and if you're not, please share this post for reach. Thank you!
