You have probably noticed that something is wrong. Look at the difficulty you have in getting an appointment at your local surgery. When you do get through, it may not be an appointment with a GP at all. Have you lost your regular family doctor? You are not alone.
General practice is collapsing. Every practice across England is struggling to keep its doors open.
On average our practice is delivering over 4300 appointments with clinicians every month which is increasing each year, The average number of patients each GP is responsible for has increased by nearly 17% since 2015. Each week our reception and admin staff deal with on average 750 calls, over 500 prescription requests in addition to the online requests for Fit notes etc. For years, general practice has been under-funded and under-doctored. Patient satisfaction has plummeted, and GPs believe that the quality of care they provide has declined. Inflation increases have decreased the value of the GP contract by £660 million, making it hard for GPs to meet rising costs, and driving hundreds of practices to close.
We value our patients. We know that most patients value us too, especially when they need us regularly. You know we can deal with most of your health problems, keep you out of hospital, and have your best interests at heart. The problem is with the mismanagement of the NHS.
Your GP is an expert in general medical practice – trained over 10 years to deal with complex problems, spot serious symptoms, and decide when you need specialist help at the hospital.
However, did you know that your practice receives just £107.57 per year for each patient, whatever their health needs. That’s less than the cost of an annual TV licence. It’s just 30p a day for every patient registered with us – less than the cost of an apple. We believe general practice deserves a bigger slice of NHS funding so we can train and hire more GPs, deliver the services you require and make it easier for you and your loved ones to get appointments to see your GP and practice team.
With just one additional GP we would be able to offer an additional 500 appointments per month!
GPs want the same things that you do. We believe nobody should struggle to see their family doctor. General Practice should be as it once was – a familiar family doctor, offering continuity of care in a surgery full of friendly familiar faces within a safe building where you knew you would get the care you needed.
Therefore, for the first time in a generation we have made the difficult decision to undertake collective action in support of all our GP colleagues across the country, so we can champion for better care for each of you – so you can receive timely care from a GP who is not over-worked and over-stretched.
During collective action, our GPs will still be working and will still be providing the NHS services that they are contracted to provide, but as a result some services that would normally be assisted by your GP may be disrupted. Your GPs will continue to work tirelessly for patients; however, we are introducing the internationally recommended safe-working limit of 25 patient contacts per day for all of our GP’s.