Like many of you I’ve joined in the clap for key workers on Thursday evenings, and very well deserved it is too. There’s little doubt in the public mind that the NHS has performed better in the pandemic than the government overall.
But working in the health sector we have every reason to feel not just pride but relief, as we are in relatively secure jobs while we see others all around lose their livelihoods in everything from hairdressing to aerospace.
This week another survey comes out from the BMA, GPs bemoaning their lot for one reason or another. In the eleven years I’ve been working with GPs, something like this appears almost weekly, predicting the end of the profession as we know it. Yet the GPs we work with are more secure than ever, loving the job and have never been better off.
Adding to the conundrum is disturbing data on numbers. As reported in GP Online, GP ftes are down 712 in the year to March 2020, and GP partners down 1,023. Yet in the same issue, GP locums bemoan the sudden loss of work in the pandemic, 81% seeing a drop in income.
I’m sure that, like me, you have many friends and relations in the medical profession and I’m sure that considered overall you wouldn’t disagree with what one observed to me, “We’ve never worked less hard since we left medical school.”
It’s amplified by leaders saying “We’re not going back to the working life we faced before the pandemic”.
I can’t wait to be rid of the restrictions on all our lives, but there’s little doubt that general practice will not return to the working format pre-covid. RCGP reported that face to face had dropped to 25% of consults, which seems high to me as our practices dropped from 30% to 2%. It has now crept back to 5%, while total demand is nudging up towards pre-covid levels.
Having discovered the efficiency of telephone triage overnight, partners will not offer face to face to everyone again, rehire all the locums and take the hit on their profits. We’ve been saying this for ten years, a few pioneers have said so for twenty years. Our latest askmyGP data, live here, shows 37% of requests are now resolved by message alone, no need even to telephone and much more time saved, while patient feedback is up too.
Practice after practice is discovering the same, but they all seem to go through a ritual of catastrophisation before they launch. At one this week the GPs were very adamant that Friday would be the busiest day, and I said they would remain very adamant until Friday. It came in with less than half even my predicted volume.
Another due to launch next week did the staff survey, and the biggest fear of the partners was higher workload. The biggest fear of all the other staff was losing their jobs because of lower workload. It’s a GP thing, and it goes with the territory.
With the huge extra resources now going into Primary Care Networks, I foresee very good times ahead for GP partners. If you’re a locum or salaried, apply as soon as you see a good opportunity. If that translates into better patient service, better quality and continuity of care, and more fulfilled professional lives, we all win.
So I’m very optimistic, but honestly, I’m bored with lockdown. I haven’t quite reached the point of sorting out my sock drawer, but I’m close, and that’s serious. Okay okay, “There’s never been a better time to sort out my sock drawer.”
Putting two and two together on GP workload
Like many of you I’ve joined in the clap for key workers on Thursday evenings, and very well deserved it is too. There’s little doubt in the public mind that the NHS has performed better in the pandemic than the government overall.
But working in the health sector we have every reason to feel not just pride but relief, as we are in relatively secure jobs while we see others all around lose their livelihoods in everything from hairdressing to aerospace.
This week another survey comes out from the BMA, GPs bemoaning their lot for one reason or another. In the eleven years I’ve been working with GPs, something like this appears almost weekly, predicting the end of the profession as we know it. Yet the GPs we work with are more secure than ever, loving the job and have never been better off.
Adding to the conundrum is disturbing data on numbers. As reported in GP Online, GP ftes are down 712 in the year to March 2020, and GP partners down 1,023. Yet in the same issue, GP locums bemoan the sudden loss of work in the pandemic, 81% seeing a drop in income.
I’m sure that, like me, you have many friends and relations in the medical profession and I’m sure that considered overall you wouldn’t disagree with what one observed to me, “We’ve never worked less hard since we left medical school.”
It’s amplified by leaders saying “We’re not going back to the working life we faced before the pandemic”.
I can’t wait to be rid of the restrictions on all our lives, but there’s little doubt that general practice will not return to the working format pre-covid. RCGP reported that face to face had dropped to 25% of consults, which seems high to me as our practices dropped from 30% to 2%. It has now crept back to 5%, while total demand is nudging up towards pre-covid levels.
Having discovered the efficiency of telephone triage overnight, partners will not offer face to face to everyone again, rehire all the locums and take the hit on their profits. We’ve been saying this for ten years, a few pioneers have said so for twenty years. Our latest askmyGP data, live here, shows 37% of requests are now resolved by message alone, no need even to telephone and much more time saved, while patient feedback is up too.
Practice after practice is discovering the same, but they all seem to go through a ritual of catastrophisation before they launch. At one this week the GPs were very adamant that Friday would be the busiest day, and I said they would remain very adamant until Friday. It came in with less than half even my predicted volume.
Another due to launch next week did the staff survey, and the biggest fear of the partners was higher workload. The biggest fear of all the other staff was losing their jobs because of lower workload. It’s a GP thing, and it goes with the territory.
With the huge extra resources now going into Primary Care Networks, I foresee very good times ahead for GP partners. If you’re a locum or salaried, apply as soon as you see a good opportunity. If that translates into better patient service, better quality and continuity of care, and more fulfilled professional lives, we all win.
So I’m very optimistic, but honestly, I’m bored with lockdown. I haven’t quite reached the point of sorting out my sock drawer, but I’m close, and that’s serious. Okay okay, “There’s never been a better time to sort out my sock drawer.”
Harry Longman
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