AN influential Farnham GP has rubbished a new model of A&E care piloted at Frimley Park and championed by town MP and health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Dr Andy Whitfield, chair and clinical lead of the NHS North East Hampshire and Farnham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), reportedly told a conference of health professionals that placing GPs at the front door of A&E departments “did not work”", and that they were better placed overseeing patient discharge.

His comments, which related to a trial at the Frimley Park as part of the CCG area’s Primary and Acute Care System (PACS) vanguard, come after NHS England instructed all hospitals they must use GP front-door streaming this winter.

Dr Whitfield was quoted by Pulse magazine as telling fellow GPs: “One thing that didn’t work is the national programme to get GPs at the front door in A&E. Actually we found putting GPs at the back door more effective, managing discharge of patients. We found this was far better than having them at the front door.”

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has previously praised the NHS England model, saying it worked “spectacularly at hospitals like Luton and Dunstable”, which was able to admit or discharge 95 per cent of patients within four hours last winter despite pressures.

However, the same plan has met criticism from GPs due to workforce concerns, with Pulse speculating that between 278 and 417 GPs would have to be drawn into A&E departments daily across the country for it to work.

Dr Whitfield did concede that the model may work elsewhere, but added Farnham’s CCG is concentrating on recruiting GPs to help with patient discharge from hospital by working with long-term conditions patients in Frimley Park’s frailty unit.

It comes after a CCG review of last year’s winter pressures at Frimley Park found that “performance challenges” were driven not just by high numbers of patients attending, but also more complex needs of patients who were admitted and delays in discharging patients fit to leave hospital.