GPs near breaking point

Primary care faces demands it is struggling to meet while the Government fails to resource it fairly. Add ‘outdated and cramped’ conditions and a picture soon emerges of a specialty at breaking point. In response, the BMA is highlighting areas ripe for improvement that could save general practice from collapse. Neil Hallows reports In general practice, they talk about a ‘John Wayne’ contract, and they’re not trying to be macho. ‘A GP’s gotta do, what a GP’s gotta do,’ is not, or not just, a tribute to the variety and resourcefulness of general practice, even though it conjures up the image of GPs protecting their populations with more success and considerably less violence than a Wild West sheriff. Instead, it’s about a way of working that, however many contractual protections are offered, has always had to soak up whatever demand presents itself. This can vary from day to day, but the one certainty is that it is increasing. The number of consultations in England increased by 40 million between 2008 and 2013/14. Given that general practice is subject to demand largely beyond its control, given that it is the system on which the rest of the NHS relies to manage that demand, the Government has a particular responsibility to resource it fairly and appropriately. It hasn’t. GPs have been saying that it hasn’t for years, and a new survey confirms some of their worst fears about the future of the specialty,...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news