Almost one in 4 individuals have purchased medication on-line or at a pharmacy to deal with their sickness after failing to see a GP head to head, in accordance with a UK survey underlining the rise of do-it-yourself remedy.

Nearly one in 5 (19%) have gone to A&E looking for pressing medical remedy for a similar purpose, the analysis commissioned by the Liberal Democrats exhibits.

One in six (16%) individuals agreed when requested by the pollsters Savanta ComRes if the problem of getting an in-person household physician appointment meant they’d “carried out medical treatment on yourself or asked somebody else who is not a medical professional to do so”.

The analysis – amongst 2,061 UK adults who had been consultant of the general inhabitants – additionally discovered that 11% had paid for care from a personal medical service. That is according to a latest discovering from the Office for National Statistics that one in eight Britons have both paid themselves for personal remedy or used their medical insurance coverage to entry private-sector care as a direct results of the rising issue sufferers face in accessing NHS providers.

Ed Davey, the chief of the Liberal Democrats, stated delays and issue in accessing GP appointments constituted a nationwide scandal, and face-to-face GP appointments had turn into “almost extinct” in some areas of the nation.

He stated: “We now have the devastating situation where people are left treating themselves or even self-prescribing medication because they can’t see their local GP.”

He blamed years of neglect of the NHS by successive Conservative governments, particularly ministers breaking guarantees to broaden the GP workforce in England.

Dr Richard Van Mellaerts, the deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee in England, stated: “While self-care and consulting other services such as pharmacies and NHS 111 will often be the right thing to do for many minor health conditions, it is worrying if patients feel forced into inappropriate courses of action because they are struggling to book an appointment for an issue that requires the attention of a GP or a member of practice staff.”

But he stated the Lib Dems’ name for sufferers to be given the precise to see a GP inside per week was “an impossible task” until the decline within the variety of household docs was arrested.

Dr Margaret Ikpoh, vice-chair of the Royal College of GPs, stated: “We understand patients’ distress and frustrations when they are unable to get a GP appointment, but we must not put the blame on hardworking GPs and their teams, who are doing their absolute best in extremely difficult circumstances to meet the healthcare needs of their patients.”

Meanwhile, as many as 500 individuals per week could also be dying due to delays in emergency care, the chief of Britain’s A&E docs has stated.

Speaking to Times Radio, Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, stated a foul flu season was compounding systemic issues within the NHS and resulting in a whole bunch of pointless deaths.

He stated: “We need to be in a situation where we cannot just shrug our shoulders and say, ‘This winter was terrible, let’s do nothing until next winter.’ We cannot continue like this – it is unsafe and it is undignified.

“What we’re seeing now in terms of these long waits is being associated with increased mortality, and we think somewhere between 300 and 500 people are dying as a consequence of delays and problems with urgent and emergency care each week.”

Responding to the Lib Dems’ survey, a Department of Health spokesperson stated: “We recognise the pressures GPs are under and are working to increase access for patients. Guidance is clear that GP practices must provide face-to-face appointments alongside remote consultations – and over two-thirds of appointments in November were face to face.

“As of September 2022, there are almost 2,300 more full-time-equivalent doctors working in general practice compared to September 2019. There are also record numbers in GP training, and since 2019 we have recruited over 21,000 additional staff into general practice.”