Doctors forced to complete Advice and Guidance referral scheme in their own time, RCP survey suggests

Doctors are having to use their own time to deliver the NHS’s controversial Advice and Guidance (A&G) scheme, a survey shows.The A&G scheme, established in 2015, is designed to reduce unnecessary referrals by allowing GPs to seek advice from a hospital consultant before making the decision to refer a patient.1However, it became a source of controversy earlier this year when the NHS announced A&G would become mandatory for every referral to selected specialties.2 Doctors at the time feared the move could delay patient care and remove family doctors’ autonomy.Now a survey carried out by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) suggests that the scheme is reliant on secondary care doctors’ goodwill because around half of them had to complete it outside their official work time.In the snapshot survey, which gathered 452 responses from the college’s members and fellows working in a clinical setting, more than two thirds (67%) said they…