Rights with a GP as a carer?

All about caring
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Hello all.

I’ve recently heard a lot of people talking about carer’s being entitled to better access to GP appointments, double appointments, and even an annual health check…

This is complete news to me.

Just wondering if anyone here can confirm if this is true, and point me in the direction of information on this? I’ve Googled but can’t seem to find anything on the NHS’s website or anywhere official.

Also, can anyone confirm how long this has been offered? As I’ve been caring for over a decade and I’ve never heard anything about it, let alone been offered anything like this.

I’d really like to confirm this is really a thing before taking my (useless) GP to task over it.

Thanks.

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Yes, it’s true, part of the Royal College of General Practitioners policy. I sent a copy to the practice manager who promised to introduce all the carers policies he knew nothing about! Then Covid came along and now he says they are too busy and short staffed. Like so many things what people say they will do and actually do are miles apart!

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THis is what I just found from the RGCP - Royal College of GPs
From the Learning and resources - continuing medical education resources Learning and resources

the ‘Daffodil Standards’ made with Marie Curie - for end of life care

these are what I had saved Around 2022 about supporting carers
Guidance, requests policies, commitments but are not mandatory additional requirements
https://www.england.nhs.uk/commitment-to-carers/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/coding-unpaid-carers-snomed-ct/
2019 https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/supporting-carers-in-general-practice-a-framework-of-quality-markers/
17 October 2022
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/How-to-identify-and-support-unpaid-carers-October-2022.pdf

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When I asked our practice manager why these were not being applied, when I’d sent him a copy years ago, he told me that things had changed, that they are too busy doing other things. It’s a practice on the South Coast which has one of the highest proportions of elderly in the UK. Often referred to as Costa Geriatrica or God’s Waiting Room, the home of Macarthy and Stone!