TY - JOUR T1 - The Blair backlash JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 809 LP - 809 VL - 55 IS - 519 AU - Mike Fitzpatrick Y1 - 2005/10/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/55/519/809.abstract N2 - One of the few highlights of Britain's recent lacklustre election campaign was the television ambush of Tony Blair by a woman complaining about her difficulty in booking an appointment with her GP more than 2 days ahead. It clearly came as a shock to the prime minister to discover that one of the unintended consequences of his government's major primary care policy initiative — to guarantee patients an appointment with their GP within 48 hours — was that, in some cases, they could not get an appointment more than 48 hours in the future. The anticipated backlash over this humiliation has now arrived, in the form of a further government initiative to ensure that doctors provide both immediate and long-term appointments.Health minister Lord Warner proposes action to ‘tackle restrictive booking and … ER -