GPs on Strike?
Dear Patients,
Over the coming weeks you are likely to see various articles in the mainstream media. Hopefully not all with a headline as negative as this one !
The British Medical Association (BMA) are balloting GP Partners over whether they are in support of collective GP action. This is in response to the new GP contract offer and the amount of increased funding being offered by the Government – just 1.9%.
This is the equivalent of us having a grand total of 30p per patient a day (or £107 a year) to cover an unlimited amount of appointments.
This clearly does not provide anywhere near enough to cover running costs such as the increase in utility bills or consumables or allow for any staff pay rises, let alone in line with inflation. Surgeries are therefore having to make cost savings in other areas and for some this will mean losing much needed staff as they can no longer afford to keep them on. With the demand for GP services at an all time high, this is simply not acceptable.
We are in support of this action but please be reassured this will not impact ANY patient care provided by the surgery.
GPs will not strike but will likely take other forms of collective action. The one making the most headlines is plans to reduce the number of GP appointments provided each day by an individual GP to a maximum of 25.
For the past 18 months we have already been adhering to BMA guidance that suggests it is unsafe for GPs to consult with more than 25 patients a day. This decision also allowed us to extend the standard length of a GP appointment from 10mins to 15mins. We are pleased to say that it has also not negatively impacted our waiting times and we are still able to offer the majority of patients a routine GP appointment with their own GP within 2 weeks.
We took this decision because we truly believe that –
1) You need time with your GP to fully explore any issues, 10 minutes is not enough
2) GPs are not robots. Spending more than 6 hours a day in direct patient consultations leads to decision fatigue, impacts the quality of care and therefore is a patient safety risk.
Time outside of consultations is needed for other daily tasks such as signing prescriptions, processing test results, reading letters from hospital clinics and discharge summaries, education, mentoring other team members, audits, writing medical reports, liaising with community colleagues from other services and even having lunch!
Like many other healthcare and emergency workers, a GP’s work is best thought of in shifts. A usual day shift will start at 8am and finish at 6.30pm (hence the reason GPs do not work 5 days a week as this would be in excess of 50 hours).
Quite often the administrative work also gets done outside of work in the GPs own free/unpaid time as they simply can’t fit it all in.
Like in other jobs, our staff are also able to work part time if they choose. Perhaps because they have a young family or caring responsibilities or have other working commitments. In fact across our team, we have GPs with additional roles in the education of medical students and trainee GPs, roles with the Andover Primary Care Network, the Local Medical Committee, undertaking charity work and working for the hospital. We also have GPs undertaking fellowship programmes and diplomas to further their skills which in turn benefits the surgery and you as patients.
Please don’t be drawn in by negative press.
As a team, we truly want the same things that you do.
To be available and accessible when you need us, whether that is in person, over the phone or via eConsult/SMS
To know ‘your’ GP and provide good continuity of care, seeing the same GP each time for ongoing issues
To provide safe, effective, up to date medical care
And to have GPs and the rest of the clinical and admin team happy in their work and not burnt out
Thanks for all your support 💜
