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May 2022
GPs back campaign for reform as Harrogate district practices 'running on empty'
GPs across the Harrogate district have called for urgent public support to ensure the area's practices can remain viable.
Local practices have publicly backed national campaign Rebuild General Practice, highlighting the need for urgent reform to keep doctors and patients safe.
Leeds Road Practice in Harrogate and Beech House Surgery in Knaresborough are among those to have shared a letter on their social media pages which highlights the pressures facing GPs.
The strongly-worded letter states that a quarter of GPs know a colleague who has taken their life because of work pressures, and almost 90% say they do not feel safe at work.
In the Harrogate district, the statutory body representing and supporting GPs, YORLMC, is backing the campaign.
Its medical secretary, Dr Brian McGregor, told the Stray Ferret the district's GPs are working extremely long hours, often unable to take holidays because there is no cover, and worried about burnout and making mistakes.
The national campaign for reform has been launched in association with Jeremy Hunt. As chairman of the health select committee, Dr McGregor said Mr Hunt believes general practice needs investment and support from the government.
Retention
In 2016, he said thousands of new GPs were needed and a recruitment campaign began. However, Dr McGregor said, they "completely took their eye off the ball" when it came to retention.
Some of that increase in appointments being provided is thanks to the rise of virtual and phone consultations during covid. They require less time than face-to-face appointments and are suitable for many patients' needs, he said.
However, there are many cases where a face-to-face appointment is necessary, but he said demand for those is extremely high following the covid pandemic.
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Dr McGregor said the situation in the Harrogate district has been exacerbated by house building, putting pressure on existing practices to accommodate more patients.
He said although housing developers have put money into pots for infrastructure including GP services, no new practices have been built or even planned across the district.
He added:
Backlog
While hospital waiting times have been in the headlines repeatedly since the beginning of the covid pandemic, Dr McGregor said the number of hospital doctors has actually risen by around 20% in that time - while GP numbers have dropped by up to 4%.
Hospitals and secondary care have been allocated £20bn of government money to deal with the backlog of work caused by covid, he said, but general practice has received nothing.
Now, through the Rebuild General Practice campaign, GPs are calling for the workplace plan, promised by the government in 2019, to be created.
It would set out how the problem of falling GP numbers would be tackled, focusing on retention as well as recruitment, and ensuring GPs can work in a way that is safe for both them and their patients.
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