A lack of investment and workforce planning stretching back years now means that general practice is unsafe for many patients and staff, in particular GPs. A new poll has reported that more than 80% of GPs believe that patients are being put at risk when they come into their surgery for an appointment and data from a mental health charity for NHS staff shows 60-70% of those who phone for help are GPs.
A new campaign, launched this week, plans to pressurise the government to fund general practice properly and deliver on its commitment to deliver an additional 6,000 GPs in England by 2024. The campaign notes that “in 2019, the UK Government promised to deliver a workforce plan for General Practice and the NHS in England. In 2022, we are still waiting.”
The Rebuild General Practice campaign, funded by the BMA and GPDF and supported by Jeremy Hunt MP, chair of the Health Select Committee, also demands that ministers and health leaders tackle the factors driving GPs out of the profession, such as burn out, and create a plan to reduce GP workload and improve patient safety.
Full story in The Lowdown, 24 March 2022