NHS: Signs of Hope in GPs crisis

The staffing crisis in the NHS and private health services is getting worse because in addition to the growing shortage of nurses doctors are also struggling to maintain what was once a prestigious career due to rising indemnity costs and high workloads for GPs.

The Royal College of General Practitioners, a network of more than 50,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients, has released a survey of its members in which 39% of respondents said they were unlikely to be working for the profession in England in five years.

That comes after a drop in the number of GPs since September despite the fact that NHS England’s “General Practice Forward View”, a five-year plan launched in April 2016, pledged to increase the number of its GPs by 5000 by the year 2020. The plan’s other headline pledge, to spend an extra £2.4 billion each year on general practice by 2020.is making progress one year on.

First of five years

Overall the one-year report card on the plan says the five-year program is largely underway and making effective progress. Nevertheless the college warns that current staff must be retained in the short term to prevent a staffing crisis should too many leave before new measures improve the profession. For instance training recruitment is meant to reach 3250 a year by 2020 and an increase of 400 this year to 2927 shows the goal should be achieved relatively soon, a step forward which would eventually help to reduce workloads.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairman of the RCGP, said that “if more people are leaving the profession than entering it, we’re fighting a losing battle. Above all else we need to see efforts stepped up to keep hard working, experienced GPs in the profession, and the best way to do this is to tackle workload pressures and improve the conditions under which all GPs and our teams are working.”

“We know we’re only one year into a five-year plan but GPs are desperate. They really, truly want to deliver the best possible care for patients but the pressures they are under are unbearable,” she said. “Our members were promised impactful change by now but unfortunately many are telling us that the difference they are seeing on the ground is not enough and they are feeling let down.”

More to do

The report notes many successes such as a new mental health service for GPs suffering from stress and burnout that has seen high demand and good results. Of those surveyed, 40% said they were so stressed that they felt at least once or twice a week that they couldn’t cope, and 5% said that happened every day.

A pilot scheme to get 1500 clinical pharmacists working in general practices has had its completion date brought forward and shows the potential of a simple idea to reduce the workload of overburdened GPs.

“But it is clear that there is a lot more to do, specifically around building our workforce,” said Professor Stokes-Lampard. “We need the GP Forward View delivered in full and in time, and if that involves a re-think of some strategies then so be it. It’s necessary and in the best interests of GPs, the wider NHS and our patients.”

by Stewart Vickers

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