GP Collective Action

Dear Patients,

We are aware just how difficult it can be for you to access services from us at the moment.  For years national GP representative bodies have been asking the government for more funding to be able to provide more appointments with our Doctors and Nurses and allow us to deliver the high standard of care we strive for.

Rather than more investment in general practice, we have seen our core funding being progressively eroded away. This reduction in funding is in addition to more work being passed into General Practice that we are not contracted to provide,  and that we do not have the funds or resources to deliver. There are fully qualified GPs looking for work, but there is not the funding for practices to be able to recruit them, nor is there adequate space in existing premises to accommodate them. The services are at breaking point.  Many GP Practices around the country have closed and more are under threat. It is only under duress that we have decided to act together as a profession.

WE ARE NOT ON STRIKE, but GPs nationally have collectively decided to stop doing things that are not in our contract and actively push this work back.  Secondary care services and commissioners  have been given plenty of notice of these changes to put plans in place.  It is hoped that this will free up time to focus on efficient provision of core NHS General Practice, which we hope will mean more appointments, safer care in the community, better continuity of care, and happier staff and patients.   We know that this transition may be turbulent but please bear with us.  The GPs are on your side. 

Why Collective Action is needed:

We are concerned about three main areas:

1. Patient Safety: The numbers of patient consultations we complete in a day means that we are not practising as safely as we would like
2. Workforce: The huge workload is making it difficult to recruit and retain staff, and levels of burnout are high
3. Funding: We are not being funded sufficiently to recruit more staff for the demand we are facing

Collective Action draws attention to these problems so we can offer you the best possible care in the long run.

What this means for you:

The practice will be fully open and and you can contact us in all of the normal ways.

• All doctors will have a maximum of 25 appointments per day, as this is the safe limit recommended by the British Medical Association.  We will work to ensure that we have enough appointments to see patients that need to be seen urgently but there may be a longer wait for routine appointments.
  If you need urgent care (and we have reached our capacity) we will always assess your symptoms and provide advice which may involve directing you to urgent care centres, minor injury units or a local pharmacy.

• We will return work to other healthcare providers, such as hospitals, where they should have completed that part of your care. This includes:

  • Onward referrals, for example if your hospital specialist would like you to see another specialist, they should write a referral and not ask your GP to write it on their behalf.

  • Fit notes, if your specialist believes you need time off work, they should provide a fit note for you.

  • Starting new medications, your specialist should start and prescribe any medications they feel are necessary.

  • Further investigations should be requested and followed up by the specialist clinician.

  • If you need any information about your care from a specialist including results, you should contact the specialist.

  • Your healthcare provider should fully complete your episode of care without asking a GP practice to do any of this work for them. 

  • We will not take over prescribing some medications that are started by specialists, this is for patient safety. (Patients already receiving medications under ‘shared care’ arrangements will not be affected.)

  • We will not provide monitoring checks for certain conditions, where this should be done by your hospital/specialist team.

It should be noted that we will not compromise your clinical care when making these decisions. If it is deemed clinically urgent to action a request made by the hospital team, then our default position would be to carry out this action accordingly.  

How you can help:

• Many minor illnesses can be managed by community pharmacies. The short video below explains what the Pharmacy First Service is, including the eligibility criteria and how to access the service.

• Consider phoning NHS 111 or use NHS 111 online to find the best place to get help with your symptoms.
• Help yourself stay well by getting a flu and Covid vaccination (if eligible).

Please be kind to our staff. They want to help you get the care you need and will do everything they can to do that.

Looking ahead:

We want the practice to remain open and provide the high level of care you deserve. We hope this action will bring meaningful changes, which benefit our patients and the healthcare system.

Thank you for your support, patience, and understanding during this challenging time.

Published: Nov 5, 2024