The period from March 2020 until now has been a time of incredible challenge for general practice. And still the challenges go on. Can you believe that over 7.2 million appointments were delivered by general practice in England in the week commencing 29^th September 2021? This represents an average of two appointments per 17 people in the UK in one week! It’s easy to see why general practice is finding things tough, especially when you consider that the overall percentage of the NHS budget allocated to general practice declined by 1.5% from 2005 to 2017.

We know that general practice is being hammered by the press, and at times it seems by the powers that be too. Many general practice staff feel like they can’t go on; they’ve simply had enough. So, at Practice Index, we’ve decided to launch a campaign to demonstrate that you really are doing everything you can in these very difficult circumstances. In testing times like these, when general practice staff feel beleaguered and unsupported by those on high, we feel you need every resource possible to help you through.

We wonder if, without the movement towards digitisation caused by the pandemic, general practice would be in its current situation? But, of course, we knew that pressure was building. In the month from September 1^st to October 1^st, an additional 108,000 patients registered across England. How can we possibly service that additional demand without moving to more time-efficient ways of working? It’s even more challenging when the narrative appears to have shifted from “digitise” to “see face to face”.

Perhaps as time goes on, the generation of patients who are comfortable and happy with online consultations will increase, though the data suggests that, surprisingly, the youngest are less comfortable with this idea than those who are slightly older.

Interestingly, although there’s a movement towards delivering appointments via online consultations, only 0.6% of the appointments delivered in the week of 29^th September were carried out by video conference or online. So, would patients see video consultations as being a “better” substitute for face-to-face appointments or not? If you’re interested in the BMA’s view on video consultations, you can see it here.

When analysing the appointments data, it’s easy to see the dips caused by Christmas week, and the change in appointments caused by the first lockdown. What’s really concerning is how much higher the current demand is compared to two years ago, and the retrospective data doesn’t examine the demand caused by winter pressures which we should expect this year. Given the changes shown in the previous winter periods, and adding in the unprecedented demand now, we can expect this winter to be the worst we’ve yet seen. Therefore, we need to prepare ourselves now.

So, in an increasingly negative picture, where general practice staff feel berated and undervalued, how do we combat the impression that GPs are in hiding – an opinion we frequently see bandied about? As mentioned earlier, Practice Index will support you in demonstrating that general practice certainly isn’t in hiding, and that we’re doing everything we possibly can to ensure our patients are well cared for despite the overwhelming pressures.

We’ve released posters and social media tiles that you can use in practice and on your Facebook feeds, to clearly explain the pressure that general practice is under, and to highlight the individual performance of your practice. We’ve studied national surveys and thought about the types of information that you could use in your surgery to illustrate the work you undertake on a daily basis. We’ve developed Facebook posts and trawled through data to bring you a range of resources that you can use to highlight the dedicated work you’re doing in practice, wherever you are in the UK.

With a challenging period to come, we hope this positive campaign will bolster you through the winter months ahead.

Click here to access the campaign for free.