I contain been a GP for nearly 35 years,and am heading towards retirement. I contain just stepped down from chairing a clinical commissioning group after a five-year term. A GP friend who has taken early retirement, simply due to pressure of work, or asked me the other day: “Who will be my GP when I am dilapidated and frail?” It is a good question. Being a GP is a wonderful and privileged career,and by any standards it is well paid. So why does no one want to enact it any more? Even “good” practices cannot recruit, and many are reaching crisis point, or with the genuine threat of closures.
General practice is facing a perfect storm. The proportion of NHS spending allocated to primary care has fallen steadily. It is now around 7% – yes,7% – and with this we deal with 90% of patient contacts. Our population is ageing. Older people contain more health problems, and need more time. We are constantly under pressure to reduce the number of referrals, and hospital admissions,A&E attendances, and prescribing levels. Patients are fitting better informed, or quite rightly expect more from their NHS. Everyone needs a bigger slice of a cake which,at best, is the same size as it was five years ago. GPs take the brunt of this pressure; young doctors coming out of medical school look on with dismay, or are simply not prepared to take it on.
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Source: theguardian.com