Mersey Reporter - #Merseybites #News

A BMA survey has revealed that 90% of locum GPs in the North West cannot find work, despite patients waiting weeks for appointments. An overwhelming number of those who responded to the survey said they could not find suitable positions and because of that, more than 45% are expecting to make changes to their work or career plans in the next year.

More worryingly, many (40%) have already made changes and the BMA fears patient access will worsen in the North-West as 29% of respondents who are planning for change say the lack of suitable shifts is forcing them to leave the NHS entirely.

Dr Hina Siddiqi, a GP in Manchester, said:- "I was a GP partner for 9 years, running my own practice before turning to locuming in 2016. Becoming a locum meant I could work at my own pace and take a step back when it got too much, and also fit in with my family situation at the time. In autumn 2022 I noticed locum opportunities beginning to dry up. It got worse throughout 2023, and now in 2024, they're almost non-existent. I have recently taken on a salaried position where I do four sessions (2 days) a week, whereas before I'd be doing up to eight sessions a week as a locum. Finding work has become a full-time job in itself. It means being absolutely glued to the phone, as locum shifts on WhatsApp groups get filled within seconds. At this point in my career, I never thought I'd be struggling to find work. You don't think medicine is a career where you'd face unemployment. People I speak to can't understand it; they say they cannot get an appointment with a GP, yet here I am, a GP of 20 years, who can't find work. It's so sad. My skills and experience would be much better utilised by the profession rather than wasted by my staying at home for 5 days of the week."

84% of respondents who can find work do not feel they have enough time in sessions to provide patients with safe and thorough care, with 35% reporting having to work beyond their agreed session contracts to meet these standards. Survey respondents also report working, on average, one day less per week now than they did in 2022.

Last year, the BMA warned the Government that the current ARRS (Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme) model, which only funds non-GP roles, would exacerbate the GP employment crisis. 80% of respondents blame the ARRS for GP unemployment.

Dr Rob Barnett, chair of the BMA North West regional Council and Liverpool GP said:- "I hear from patients all the time in the North-West that they can't see a GP, and I know they'll be genuinely shocked by this data. These GPs are so frustrated, knowing that their friends and neighbours are desperate to see a doctor, and yet they are forced to sit at home, ringing surgeries trying to get work. I know that people in the North West will be keen to hear from their local MP candidates what they plan to do about this."

Professor Philip Banfield, chair of BMA Council, said:- "How is it possible to have thousands of patients needing treatment and GPs available to give that care, but prevented from doing so by a system unable to pay them? To have highly-qualified doctors turning to other jobs to earn a wage whilst GP practices cannot meet the demands placed on them and patients waiting weeks for an appointment shows what a fiasco the NHS has been turned into. It is clear we have a Government which has not only watched but aided and abetted the decline of general practice and with it, the morale and goodwill of our GPs, especially in England. GPs are hugely underappreciated; there is no substitute for their skills and experience. NHS England and Ministers should be absolutely ashamed of the mess that is primarily of their creation and now be doing everything in their power to try to restore and rebuild the cornerstone of efficient and effective healthcare; the family doctor."

Dr Mark Steggles, the BMA's sessional GP committee chair, said:- "These shocking results reinforce what many locum GPs are telling us; they cannot get any, or enough work. As well as the stress and worry that causes them; when combined with the lack of NHS salaried and partnership opportunities; it leaves us in the ridiculous situation where so many patients are being denied the chance to see a GP, even though we have GPs wanting to work and care for them. On the one hand, we have thousands of GPs in England desperate to work more, but being driven into careers outside the NHS. On the other hand, patients in pain, and needing care, are waiting record-breaking periods of time to see a GP. It's difficult to comprehend how the NHS; a health service once world-renowned; has reached this point where thousands of highly-skilled doctors are unable to find suitable work within it and patients are suffering as a result."

Dr Clare Bannon, GP practice partner and BMA England's GP committee lead for clinical and interface policy, said:- "The government has ring-fenced the funds that practices use to hire staff and blocked us from employing GPs. Patients deserve to be seen by doctors. GPs have the education and skills to differentiate between routine conditions and serious illnesses, making access to a GP potentially a matter of life and death. Understandably, patients are frustrated and concerned about their lack of access to family doctors. At the same time, GPs are desperate for work, and practices are unable to hire them. This situation is truly a destructive and ridiculous paradox."