Reset needed before hope is lost for doctors and patients
Health Reporter Sam Volpe on why general practice needs a “reset” – whatever party is running the country after the election
LEADING North East GPs warned that general practice “needs a reset” or else those beginning their careers will be left with no hope and patients will be left without appointments.
The British Medical Association is set to ballot GP contractors and partners over taking industrial action. This is over a dispute following the news earlier this year that the funding provided in the contract which governs general practice would rise by only 1.9%.
Medics said they had asked for 8.7% - which would mean reversing real-terms cuts seen since 2019. Dr Paul Evans, a Gateshead GP, local medical committee chief and BMA council rep, said improving matters was vital for the future of the community doctor.
He said, like when junior doctors and hospital consultants have taken the decision to carry out industrial action over the past 18 months, this was a tough decision but one taken with the long-term in mind.
He said: “We have taken the view, supported by the BMA’s patient liaison group, that just as with junior doctors and consultants, it is legitimate to do this now in order to prevent the widespread harm of general practice being run down. We are asking for 8.7% which would just take us back to where we were in 2019. That’s just what’s needed to make things viable.”
Dr Evans said that while the North East’s GP training programmes had been full in recent years, there were not enough jobs for them to go into - and this was down to funding for practices. He said it was also essential that funding wasn’t ring-fenced for practices to hire other members of staff.
He said: “You have patients who want appointments and GPs who want to find work but these things need to be put together. What we want is to be able to take the funding needed and use that to give patients the staff they need too.
“We have gone from having something like 1,800 patients per GP to more like 2,300. We need more staff, but for that to be the staff we actually need. And we need to give those coming through as young doctors a degree of hope that the future might be okay for them. All they see as it stands is GP in managed decline.”
Dr Evans said GPs would work with whichever Government is returned later this summer but that it was vital for politicians to grasp the scale of the challenge and reverse the declines seen in the past five years. He said: “What is needed is a reset in general practice.”
Another GP, Whitley Bay’s Dr George Rae - chair of the BMA’s North East regional council - added: “The NHS is facing a serious state of affairs. It’s no exaggeration to say the NHS is in crisis.
“What would be fair to say is that there are far too many exhausted doctors after years of being stretched beyond breaking point.”
Dr Rae said the impact of higher demand, fewer GPs and the pandemic had contributed to this - and he added that whichever politicians are in power come July 5, it was essential that they act to support the NHS.
He said: “We have seen real-terms cuts to pay that in many respects has led doctors to feel undervalued.
And the reality is that the workforce is so important. What we do want is to see our patients given the best possible health service and access to appointments, but you can’t do that without a proper contract.”
In March, the BMA asked members in a referendum if they accepted the 2024-2025 contract that was imposed, the union said ,more than 19,000 GPs took part and close to 100% voted to say they did not. The ballot over industrial action runs from June 17 to July 29. A vote for action could see GPs stop doing work they are not explicitly contracted to do.
Prior to the general election being called, the Government had not commented on the dispute. In campaigning, politicians have made a series of promises about the future of the NHS.
The Conservative Party has pledged to build 100 new GP surgeries and modernise 150 more, while the Labour Party manifesto includes a promise to train thousands more GPs, guarantee a faceto-face appointment for all patients who want one and deliver a “modern booking system” to end the morning rush for appointments.
It promises to deliver a “modern appointment booking system” to end the 8am scramble for appointments seen currently and will incentivise GPs to see the same patients to promote continuity of care.
It’s no exaggeration to say the NHS is in crisis. And this election is a chance to turn around the NHS Dr George Rae