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News Article
Quarter of GP posts vacant within a decade in England, study warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The shortage of GPs in England is set to become worse, with more than one in four posts predicted to be vacant within a decade, an analysis suggests. The Health Foundation study said the current 4,200 shortfall could rise to more than 10,000 by 2030-31. The think tank believes the government will struggle to increase the number of GPs, while demand will continue to rise - creating a bigger shortfall. The government has promised to recruit 6,000 extra GPs by 2024, but ministers have admitted they are struggling to achieve that. The analysis said the numbers entering the profession are on the rise, but this will be offset by GPs retiring or moving towards part-time working, according to current trends. The worst-case scenarios suggested more than half of GP posts could even be vacant. Anita Charlesworth, director of research at the Health Foundation, said: "It's sobering that over the next decade things are set to get worse, not better." "It's critical that government takes action to protect general practice and avoid it getting locked in a vicious cycle of rising workload driving staff to leave, in turn creating more pressure on remaining staff and fuelling even more departures." Prof Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said the predictions were "bleak" and the worst-case scenario would be a "disaster". "Our members have told us they lack the time to deliver the care that they want to deliver for patients - and that patients need," he said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 30 June 2022 -
Content ArticleThis document summarises the findings of The Health Foundation's analysis on workforce supply and demand in general practice in England up to 2030/31. It focuses on patient care staff including GPs and general practice nurses. The Health Foundation developed three scenarios of potential workforce supply through a mix of in-house modelling and publicly available data: a scenario based on current policy, a more optimistic scenario and a pessimistic scenario. The analysis demonstrates that in all three scenarios, the supply of GPs and general practice nurses is projected to fall short of demand. Under current policy, the NHS faces a shortfall of over 1 in 4 GP and general practice nurse posts by 2030/31. In the pessimistic scenario this increases to around 1 in 2 GP and nurse posts, raising concerns about patient safety, quality of care and equity of access. In the optimistic scenario, the GP shortfall can be substantially mitigated by 2030/31, but this would require sustained and concerted policy action to boost GP retention and integrate newer roles within multidisciplinary practice teams.
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News Article
Are we failing young people with cancer?
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
When you think of cancer, a glamorous mum in her mid-30s is not the first image that springs to mind. But You, Me and the Big C podcaster Dame Deborah James was just 35 when she found out she had bowel cancer. Blood and stool tests had come back normal and her GP had laughed "not once, but three times over the course of six months" at the idea she could possibly have a tumour in her bowels. The diagnosis came only when she paid to have her colon examined privately. Her experience has raised questions about how good we are at spotting and treating cancer in the under-40s. Simply - are we failing young people with cancer? Overall, around 4.3% of cancers diagnosed in the UK are in the under-40s, while those over 75 make up more than a third of all cancer cases, which poses a challenge for us and the doctors who treat us. When we are young, we're less likely to attribute any ill health to cancer. Changes to our bowel movements could just be stress, blood in the toilet after we poo could be inflammatory bowel disease or haemorrhoids. Because, for most people, cancer is something that happens to our parents or grandparents. Your doctor should be alert to major warning signs of cancer, but there is a medical saying: "When you hear hooves, think horses, not zebras". It's a call to look for the most common or likely explanation, and the younger you are, the less likely cancer is to be behind your symptoms. This helps channel the health service's limited resources to those most likely to need them. But that means some younger people aren't being seen quickly enough, although the problem can affect older people too. Bowel Cancer UK's Never Too Young report in 2020 found that four in 10 people surveyed had to visit their GP three or more times before being referred for further tests to see if they had cancer. "I don't think GPs are a problem," says Genevieve Edwards, chief executive of Bowel Cancer UK. "It [bowel cancer] is rare in younger people... It will usually be something else." The question is - what if you are the zebra, that relatively rare case who does have cancer at a young age?" Read full story Source: BBC News, 14 May 2022 -
News Article
Falling NHS continuity of care poses ‘existential threat’ to patient safety
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Rapidly falling continuity of care levels pose an “existential threat” to patient safety, Britain’s top family doctor will warn today as research reveals only half of Britons regularly see the same GP. Prof Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), will say trusted relationships between family doctors and patients are the most “powerful intervention” for delivering effective, high-quality care as they boost patient satisfaction and health outcomes, and reduce use of hospital services. But in a keynote speech to the college’s annual conference, Marshall will warn that continuity of care is becoming almost impossible to deliver on the NHS amid soaring demand and shrinking numbers of GPs, in what he will describe as the “most worrying crisis in decades”. There are mounting concerns over the ability of the NHS to tackle record waiting lists, with 6.5m patients awaiting care in England alone. Earlier this month Sajid Javid, the health secretary, admitted the current model of GP care “is not working” but insisted there would be no more money for the health service. At the RCGP conference in London, Marshall will tell delegates that because of rising workloads and fewer staff, GPs no longer have the time to properly assess patients, with 65% warning safety is being compromised due to appointments being too short, according to a recent survey commissioned by the college. Only 39% of respondents said they were able to deliver the continuity of care their patients need – down from 60% two years ago. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2022 -
News Article
Cost of living: GPs warning over rise in prescription requests
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The cost of living crisis is adding to pressures on GPs, the British Medical Association (BMA) in Northern Ireland has warned. The BMA said that is because the number of people asking for prescriptions for medicines that can be bought over the counter is increasing. That includes medicines like painkillers and allergy medication, Dr Alan Stout of the BMA said. Prescriptions are free for everyone in Northern Ireland. The rise in prescription request increases "the cost to the health service as a whole and the pressure on GPs", Dr Stout told Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme. "We have talked before about the difficulties people have accessing GPs and this is just more demand and difficulties," he said. Dr Stout added: "I absolutely don't hold that against anyone, it is not our position as GPs to deny people medication or deny people prescriptions if they need this medication." Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 June 2022 -
News Article
RCGP warns 19,000 GPs could quit in 'mass exodus' over next five years
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Polling by the Royal College of General Practice (RCGP) as part of a campaign to make NHS GP services sustainable for the future found that 42% of 1,262 GPs and trainees who took part said they were likely to quit the profession in the next five years. A workforce exodus on this scale would strip the health service of nearly 19,000 of the roughly 45,000 headcount GPs and GP trainees currently working in general practice. RCGP chair Professor Martin Marshall warned that general practice was a profession in crisis - with the intensity and complexity of GP workload rising as the workforce continued to shrink. He warned that 'alarming' findings from the RCGP poll must serve as a stark warning to politicians and NHS leaders over the urgent need for solutions to begin to tackle the crisis facing general practice. Four in five respondents told the RCGP they expect working in general practice to get worse over the next few years - while only 6% expected things to improve. Nearly two in five respondents said GP practice premises are not fit for purpose, and one in three said IT for booking systems is not good enough. Professor Marshall said: 'What our members are telling us about working on the frontline of general practice is alarming. General practice is significantly understaffed, underfunded, and overworked and this is impacting on the care and services we’re able to deliver to patients. Read full story Source: GP, 22 June 2022 -
News Article
UK’s biggest GP chain replacing doctors with less qualified staff
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The UK's biggest chain of GP practices lets less qualified staff see patients without adequate supervision, an undercover BBC Panorama investigation has found. Operose Health is putting patients at risk by prioritising profit, says a senior GP. The company, with almost 600,000 NHS patients, is owned by US healthcare giant Centene Corporation. BBC Panorama sent undercover reporter Jacqui Wakefield to work as a receptionist at one of the UK company's 51 London surgeries. A GP working at the practice said they were short of eight doctors. The practice manager said they hired less qualified medical staff called physician associates (PAs), because they were "cheaper" than GPs. Physician associates were first introduced by the NHS in 2003, so that doctors could deal with more complex patient needs. PAs are healthcare professionals who have completed two years of post-graduate studies on top of a science degree, as opposed to 10 years education and training for GPs. They support GPs in the diagnosis and management of patients, but should have oversight from a doctor. Panorama gathered evidence that PAs were not being properly supervised at the Operose practice. The PAs told the undercover reporter they saw all sorts of patients, sometimes without any clinical supervision. They said the practice treated them as equivalent to GPs. Prof Sir Sam Everington, a senior practising GP at an unconnected partner-run practice, reviewed BBC Panorama's undercover footage and said he was concerned for patient safety. During the undercover investigation at the London practice, administrative workers also revealed a backlog of thousands of medical test results and hospital letters on Operose computer systems. One worker said they were tasked with getting through 200 documents a day, deciding which were important enough to be seen by a GP or pharmacist and which would be filed to the patient's records. One member of staff, worried about making mistakes said they sometimes used Google to help them work out what to do with the documents. Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 June 2022 -
News Article
Law change to let pharmacists sign people off sick
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Pharmacists and some other healthcare professionals, rather than just GPs, will soon be able to sign people off sick from work, under new rules. The law change will take effect in July and apply across England, Wales and Scotland. The aim is to free up family doctors' time. People off work for more than seven consecutive days because of illness may need to show a note from a healthcare professional to their employer. When the new legislation is passed, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists (working in hospitals and GP practices) and physiotherapists will be able to provide the notes, in addition to GPs. Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: "I know how important it is for people to be able to see their GP speedily and in the way they want. "That's why we are slashing bureaucracy to reduce GPs workloads, so they can focus on seeing patients and giving people the care they urgently need. Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 June 2022 -
Content ArticleThis study in the British Journal of General Practice aimed to examine the impact of Covid-19 on GP contacts with children and young people in England. The authors conducted a longitudinal trends analysis using electronic health records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) Aurum database. The study found that: GP contacts fell 41% during the first lockdown compared with previous years. Children aged 1-14 years had greater falls in total contacts (≥50%) compared with infants and those aged 15–24 years. Face-to-face contacts fell by 88%, with the greatest falls occurring among children aged 1-14 years (>90%). Remote contacts more than doubled, increasing most in infants. Total contacts for respiratory illnesses fell by 74% whereas contacts for common non-transmissible conditions shifted largely to remote contacts, mitigating the total fall (31%).
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News Article
Criminal acts of violence at UK GP surgeries almost double in five years
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Criminal acts of violence at GP surgeries across the UK have almost doubled in five years, new figures reveal, as doctors’ leaders warn of a perfect storm of soaring demand and staff shortages. Police are now recording an average of three violent incidents at general practices every day. Staff are facing unprecedented assaults, abuse and aggression by patients, with surgeries struggling to cope with “unmanageable levels of demand” after years of failure to recruit or retain sufficient numbers of family doctors. Security measures such as CCTV, panic buttons and screens at reception are now increasingly being rolled out across GP surgeries, the Guardian has learned, with senior medics claiming ministers perpetuate a myth that services are “closed”. Last night, Britain’s two most senior doctors condemned the wave of violence and called for urgent action to finally resolve the workforce crisis. “It is unacceptable that GPs and their staff are afraid and at risk of being verbally or physically abused, when they are working amid exceptional pressures and striving to do their best for patients,” said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association. “GP practices are facing unmanageable levels of demand with 2,000 fewer GPs than in 2015.” He added it was “no surprise” that patients were struggling to get appointments because of the national “lack of capacity” and “lack of historic investment in general practice”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 31 May 2022 -
News ArticleHundreds of thousands of patients referred to specialists by their GPs are being rejected by hospitals and left to deteriorate because there are no appointments available. NHS waiting lists are already buckling under record-high backlogs and now delays are being compounded as local doctors struggle to even get their patients to outpatient services. Patients’ referrals are rejected by hospital trusts if there are no appointment slots available, meaning they get bounced back to the GP who is unable to help with their complex needs, leaving them without the care they desperately need. Clare Rayner, 54, from Manchester, has been left distraught by delays which have hampered the treatment she needs for complex spinal problems. She is still waiting to find out if an upcoming appointment with a neurologist is going ahead after a request for an urgent review from her GP was ignored five times. Outpatient referrals are typically classed as having an “appointment slot issue” (ASI) when no booking slot is available within a specific time frame, under the NHS e-Referral system. According to experts, the situation varies between specialities, but is reportedly particularly bad in areas such as mental health and neurology. Ms Rayner, a former medical teacher who had to retire because of ill health, said: “I’ve been sent all around the country for neurosurgery over the last few years so have been directly affected by being bounced back to my GP." “A unit in London rejected me because they said I lived too far away, which was ridiculous as they take people from all over the UK, and a local consultant just never replied to my GP’s email. Ms Rayner said she has endured “massive delays” to her care which had left her intensely frustrated. “It’s left me with significant deterioration with my spinal problems and that’s been very distressing,” she said. Helen Hughes, chief executive of charity and campaign group Patient Safety Learning, said: “NHS England needs to urgently investigate, quantify the scale of the problem and take action if we are to prevent these capacity problems resulting in avoidable harm for patients.” A target for providers to reduce ASIs to a rate of 4% or less of their total outpatient activity was set by NHS England in 2019. Guidance in subsequent years has seen a move towards the requirement for providers to implement “innovative pathways” to support prevention of ill health. Read full story Source: iNews, 22 May 2022 Related blogs on the hub: Rejected outpatient referrals are putting patients at risk and increasing workload pressure on GPs A child left waiting for ‘urgent’ surgery, a blog by Clare Rayner
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Content ArticleThis study in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety aimed to investigate factors affecting length of time to diagnosis in primary care in the USA. The authors found that patients presenting with new or unresolved problems in ambulatory primary care often remain undiagnosed after a year. There were no provider or patient-level variables associated with lack of diagnosis and further research is needed into the causes and consequences of lack of timely diagnosis.
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News Article
NHS risks losing GPs to ‘nonsensical’ immigration rules, Priti Patel told
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hundreds of overseas-born trainee GPs are at risk of deportation because of “nonsensical” immigration rules, the profession’s leader has warned Priti Patel. The NHS risks losing much-needed family doctors unless visa regulations are overhauled to allow young medics to stay in Britain at the end of their GP training, Prof Martin Marshall said. Marshall, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, has written to Patel, the home secretary, demanding that she scrap “bureaucratic” hurdles affecting would-be GPs from abroad. He told the Guardian: “At a time when general practice is experiencing the most severe workload pressures it has ever known, it is nonsensical that the NHS is going to the expense of training hundreds of GPs each year who then face potential deportation by the Home Office because of an entirely avoidable visa issue. “We cannot afford to lose this expertise and willingness to work in the NHS, delivering care to patients, due to red tape.” The threat to foreign-born GP trainees has arisen because current immigration rules state that “international medical graduates” (IMGs) can be given indefinite leave to remain only after they have been in the country for five years, but GP training lasts for only three years. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 May 2022 -
News Article
Big rise in delayed GP referrals sparks safety warning
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A big rise in GP referrals being deferred because no appointment slots are available, in the wake of the covid pandemic, has sparked concerns that patients are going undiagnosed and missing out on the correct treatment. Outpatient referrals are typically classed as having an “appointment slot issue” when no booking slot is available within a timeframe specified by the provider, under the NHS e-referral system. The latest NHS Digital figures, analysed by HSJ, show the number of ASIs was 52% higher in March 2022 than February 2020 — up from 245,582 to 374,209. The statistics suggests appointment slot issue accounted for 77% of all bookings in March 2022, 26% of all referrals and 19% of bookings and referrals combined. In February 2020, this was 32%, 17% and 11% respectively. The Royal College of GPs told HSJ there was a risk of patients “simply disappearing” off lists if the issue was not properly managed, while charity Patient Safety Learning said the issue was a “growing problem” which NHS England must “urgently investigate”. Patient Safety Learning chief executive Helen Hughes said: “NHS England needs to urgently investigate, quantify the scale of the problem and take action if we are to prevent these capacity problems resulting in avoidable harm for patients. “Patients who cannot access outpatient services may deteriorate further while they wait for care, and it is not clear that in these cases there is the appropriate support available for them. There is also the potential for patients to be misdiagnosed and receive inappropriate treatment without specialist involvement, and the potential of a postcode lottery of care emerging for some conditions.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 May 2022 Read Patient Safety Learning's blog: Rejected outpatient referrals are putting patients at risk and increasing workload pressure on GPs -
Content Article
Hospitals are rejecting GP referrals for investigations and outpatient treatment at an increasing rate. In this blog, Patient Safety Learning looks at the patient safety issues caused by rejected referrals and lack of capacity in outpatient specialities. We call for the government and NHS leaders to investigate the problem and take action to mitigate risks to patient safety. -
News Article
GPs won’t see us unless it’s ‘life or death’, complain pensioners
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A 94-year-old man has said his GP refuses to see him “unless it’s life or death”. Dennis Baker, from North Hampshire, said he felt “put off” by his doctor's surgery, which is a three-minute walk from his house. The pensioner, who lives with his wife who has advanced dementia and is bed-bound, said he found it “quite difficult to carry on a conversation with a doctor” and cannot get one to visit him at home. “The chances are [the receptionist] will say… ‘you're not dying, a doctor will phone you at some stage today’, that’s the usual response,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One. It comes as the president of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) said family doctors should start “saying no” to extra work to tackle the crisis in primary care. Speaking at Pulse Live last week, Professor Dame Clare Gerada said the workload crisis was not the fault of GPs and they “cannot innovate [their] way out”. “When you’re in debates and people are saying to you 'you’ve got to work harder and smarter' - no, the rest of the system has to adapt,” she told the conference. “You have to start saying no.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 3 May 2022 -
News Article
Leaked NHS report warns GPs face ‘shocking levels’ of racism
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
GPs face “appalling and systemic” racism from patients and colleagues, a leaked NHS report has revealed. The first Health Education England report for London of its kind says racism and discrimination are widespread within primary care across the capital, and GPs in other parts of the country have raised similar concerns. Doctors speaking with The Independent have told stories of being called derogatory and racist names, of staff leaving due to the bigotry they’ve faced, and of patients asking to see a “white” or “English” GP. Senior GPs have warned patients will ultimately suffer as a result, as experienced doctors leave practices to avoid such abuse. Professor Simon Gregory, deputy medical director for Health Education England, said: “There is considerable evidence that the UK is systemically racist, and that the NHS is a systemically racist workplace. “This report is shocking evidence of terrible, indeed appalling, levels of discrimination across protected characteristics and with much intersectionality, but especially shocking levels of racial discrimination.” “The awful and painful narratives of so many colleagues over so many years cannot be ignored but thanks to London’s primary care educational leaders we now have firm evidence. Evidence that cannot be ignored.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 4 May 2022 -
News Article
Pharmacies in Wales to help GPs prescribe medicines to patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Nearly a third of community pharmacies in Wales should be able to prescribe medicines for NHS patients, including antibiotics, by the end of this year, health officials say. It is the first new service of its kind in the UK. The aim is to take the pressure off GPs at a time of increasing strain on the NHS. Scotland has adopted a similar approach but England and Northern Ireland have not so far. Community pharmacies in Wales are allowed to offer prescriptions of medicines for acute illnesses such as urinary tract and respiratory infections, gout and chronic pain, as well as emergency contraception - if they have a pharmacist who has had extra training for prescribing. For most patients, that will be more convenient and avoid waits for GP appointments. The plan is to roll out the service progressively across Wales, building on local schemes already in place. Local doctors in general practice have welcomed the new policy. Dr Penny Coyle said each week about 25 patients with minor ailments were referred to the pharmacist, saving 100 GP appointments a month and giving doctors more time to visit seriously ill patients in their homes. "We are finding that demand is outweighing capacity and so anything that relieves some of the pressure on general practice is very welcome," she said. Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck said: "Pharmacist prescribers can help massively when you think about the shortages and the HRT issues, for example, that we are currently facing - having a pharmacist prescriber being able to prescribe alternative medicines without the patient having to wait to see the GP." Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 April 2022 -
News Article
Three quarters of GPs report rising patient abuse, MDO warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Three in four GPs have reported facing increasing patient abuse last year, according to a major survey by a medical defence organisation. The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) surveyed almost 2,000 members across the UK, including 668 GPs, about their experiences last year compared with 2020. It revealed that 76% of GPs reported an increase in verbal abuse from patients towards them and their practice staff. Half of these (38%) said this had ‘significantly increased’ and the other half that it had ‘somewhat increased’ throughout 2021. Female GPs were more likely to face verbal abuse or aggression than their male counterparts, with 81% reporting an increase in this compared with 72% of their male colleagues. The survey found that this has led to a ‘huge increase in work-related stress’, MDDUS said. Among GPs who experienced verbal abuse or aggression in the workplace, 83% said they felt ‘more stressed’ than they did in 2020. MDDUS chief executive Chris Kenny said: ‘The pandemic has stretched our healthcare professionals to the limit. For those at the very frontline, it is clear now that the levels of stress have reached an almost unsustainable point. ‘GPs urgently need recognition, reassurance and realism to support them so they can reset their relationship with patients.’ Read full story Source: Pulse, 22 April 2022 -
News Article
GP sexually abused 48 patients over 35 years
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A doctor from North Lanarkshire has been found guilty of 54 sex offence charges against women over 35 years. Krishna Singh, 72, kissed, groped, gave inappropriate examinations and made sleazy comments to 48 patients during appointments in various medical settings. Prosecutors described how the sexual predator was "hiding in plain sight" over nearly four decades. The offences mainly occurred at medical practices in North Lanarkshire, but also at a hospital accident and emergency department, a police station and during visits to patients' homes. An investigation was launched into his behaviour when one woman reported him to authorities in 2018. A letter was then sent to all patients at the practice to see if they could help in the police inquiry. Many women became so uncomfortable going to see the GP that they brought a friend or relative to appointments. One woman tried to make her medication last longer to delay having to go back and see him. Prosecutor Angela Gray told the jury during the trial that Singh had been in a routine of abusing his position to offend against women. She said: "Sexual offending was part of his working life. Access to women as and when the situation arose and taking the chances when he could." Read full story Source: BBC News, 14 April 2022 -
Community Post
GP experiences of rejected referrals and access to secondary care
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a topic in GP and primary care
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Are you a GP or other healthcare professional working in primary care? Have you noticed an increase in rejected referrals to outpatient services/for scans and other investigations? How have changes to the referral system affected you? What communication relating to referrals have you received recently from the NHS? What has the impact been on your own workload and wellbeing, and the safety of patients? Please share your experiences with us so we can continue to highlight this important issue. -
Content ArticleRebuild General Practice is a campaign that represents GPs from across England, Scotland and Wales, to call for support to address the severe pressures currently faced by primary care. Rebuild GP is calling for Government action on: Recruitment: The UK Government delivering on its commitment of an additional 6,000 GPs in England by 2024 Retention: Tackling the factors driving GPs out of the profession such as burn out Safety: A plan to reduce GP workload and in turn improve patient safety This video shows highlights of a press conference held to launch the campaign. It features accounts from GPs about the pressures they face and how this is affecting staff and patients, as well as a statement from Jeremy Hunt MP, former Health Secretary. Dr Kieran Sharrock, deputy chair of the BMA GP Committee, calls on the Government to work with GPs to find a solution to the issues faced by primary care.
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News Article
GP telephone first system 'here to stay' in Northern Ireland
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A phone first system adopted by most GP surgeries at the start of the pandemic is "here to stay", the Royal College of GPs (RCGPs) in Northern Ireland has said. However, the RCGP has also accepted patient access needs to improve. The system was introduced in spring 2020. According to GPs, the move, which came without either consultation or prior information, was necessary to minimise the risk of infection of Covid-19. Two years on, there is concern among some members of the public that the system is not working. Speaking to BBC News NI, Dr Ursula Mason accepted that the system wasn't working but said there were not enough GPs to see people. She added that the telephone system, which was being "refined" and "improved" was the best way to manage "growing demand" and to "prioritise the sickest patients to be seen first". "The telephone system allows us to see many more patients, to deal with demand in a better way so I think the telephone system is here to stay," added Dr Mason. "There will be some changes to upgrade it, but it will form a significant part of how we manage demand." -
News Article
GP numbers in England down every year since 2015 pledge to raise them
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of GPs in England has fallen every year since the government first pledged to increase the family doctor workforce by 5,000, a minister has admitted. There were 29,364 full-time-equivalent GPs in post in September 2015, when the then health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, first promised to increase the total by 5,000 by 2020. However, by September 2020 the number of family doctors had dropped to 27,939, a fall of 1,425, the health minister Maria Caulfield disclosed in a parliamentary answer. And it has fallen even further since then, to 27,920, she confirmed, citing NHS workforce data. In the 2019 general election campaign, Boris Johnson replaced Hunt’s pledge with a new commitment to increase the number of GPs in England by 6,000 by 2024. However, Sajid Javid, the health secretary, admitted last November that this pledge was unlikely to be met because so many family doctors were retiring early. Organisations representing GPs say their heavy workloads, rising expectations among patients, excess bureaucracy, a lack of other health professionals working alongside them in surgeries, and concern that overwork may lead to them making mistakes are prompting experienced family doctors to quit in order to improve their mental health and work-life balance. The British Medical Association (BMA) said the figures Caulfield cited showed that the lack of doctors in general practice was “going from bad to worse for both GPs and patients”, and it warned that patients were paying the price in the form of long waits for an appointment. “Despite repeated pledges from government to boost the workforce by thousands, it’s going completely the wrong way,” said Dr Kieran Sharrock, the deputy chair of the BMA’s GP committee. “As numbers fall, remaining GPs are forced to stretch themselves even more thinly, and this of course impacts access for patients and the safety of care provided.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 April 2022 -
Content ArticleThis article in the British Journal of General Practice aimed to develop a safety-netting intervention to reduce delays in cancer diagnosis in primary care. To develop the tool, patient representatives, GPs and nurse practitioners were invited to a series of co-design workshops. These workshops suggested the intervention format and content should incorporate visual and written communication specifying clear timelines for monitoring symptoms and when to present back. Participants also agreed that they needed to be available in paper and electronic forms, be linked to existing computer systems and be able to be delivered within a 10-minute consultation. The output of this process was the Shared Safety Net Action Plan (SSNAP), a safety-netting intervention to assist the timely diagnosis of cancer in primary care.
