Dr Mary McCarthy: GPs' profession faced by many challenges
This week I have had two days away from my practice to attend the annual conference of Local Medical Committees (LMCs), together with other GPs from Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Church Stretton and Ludlow.
It was an impressive occasion with about 600 delegates – grassroots GPs from across the UK – attending for two days of debate and discussion about the current state of general practice.
General practice can vary significantly across the country depending on factors including the local population or geographical area, but the one consistent impression from the conference was that whether it was GPs from Devon or Cumbria or Norfolk talking, we were all describing the same problems such as recruiting young doctors into general practice, the increasing number of GPs looking to retire early, and the instability of practices that are left.
Over the past 10 years the investment in general practice has steadily fallen while the demand and the pressures have increased. Premises no longer have the capacity to take on any more work, there is no space for more clinics and a decreasing number of doctors, with practices finding it increasingly difficult to recruit.
One of the Shropshire GPs who came to the conference has been trying for more than two years to find a replacement for retiring partners and is worried that the practice will have to try to reduce its commitments.
Highly qualified and experienced GPs are leaving the profession in growing numbers due to the increasing pressures facing them. Many GPs are leaving the NHS to work abroad where the work/life balance is significantly better.
A recent British Medical Association survey – of more than 15,000 GPs across the UK – found that more than a third of GPs in the Midlands are considering retiring from general practice within the next five years, while there is a significant shortfall in the number of doctors training as GPs.
We need to make general practice an attractive career choice for young doctors and there was much discussion at the conference on how this could be achieved.
The bugbears, reiterated by doctor after doctor, are the bureaucracy, the constant box-ticking, the frequent inspections by three separate bodies which take time from patient care, and the added work that has moved over from hospitals without the necessary resources following it.
The conference showed us that although we work in very different environments, in very diverse geographical locations, with very different patient populations we all have the same problems, concerns and worries about the future of general practice.
