A weekly round-up of the latest news stories covering general practice across the UK.

GPs facing abuse as tension grows over primary care

GP leaders have called for an end to “growing abuse” against doctors and practice staff. One GP explained that she was now embarrassed to tell people her profession. Instead of admitting to being a GP, she now tells people she’s a nurse.

The doctor, from Devon, said: “There was a time when I was proud to say what I did for a living, but now I would never feel safe telling a stranger what I do. It is just not worth the inevitable rant from a stranger about how terrible GPs are – it can get pretty personal.”

Royal College of GPs chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: “GPs go into general practice because they want to care for patients, and we want to do our best for them. In reality, more patients are being seen in general practice than ever before, but our workloads are escalating at the same time as we have a severe shortage of GPs, so we are facing a daily battle to meet demand. This situation is made worse by the totally unwarranted and undeserved ‘GP bashing’ that we receive all too often from some politicians and particular sections of the media.”

Row as practices accused of holding extra patients

It has been alleged that practices in England may have more than 5,000,000 “ghost” patients on their lists. There is a discrepancy between recorded population figures of 57 million and the number of patients registered with practices – 62.9 million. GP leaders say the discrepancy has a number of causes and should not be interpreted as a sign of practices participating in fraud.

Vice-chair of the Royal College of GPs Dr Victoria Tzortziou-Brown stated: “GP practices try hard to keep their patient lists as up to date as possible, but this relies on timely and accurate information about the movement of patients so that individuals are not inappropriately removed from a GP list.

“So-called ‘ghost patients’ are nothing sinister and are not a case of surgeries deliberately profiting by keeping patients on their lists when they shouldn’t be there – they are a records management issue.”

Six-day strike

It is expected that there will be some major disruptions to NHS services this week as more than 20,000 doctors in training have begun a six-day strike in England over an unsettled pay claim and concerns about working conditions. This is the longest strike in NHS history. The BMA (British Medical Association) has organised the strike.

NHS managers are concerned that the strike will have a detrimental effect on planned operations and procedures. During 2023, 1.2 million appointments and treatments were cancelled due to strike action.

The first critical incident caused by the strike was declared in Nottinghamshire. 

Public resort to self-treatment because of appointment shortages

Growing numbers of people are resorting to self-treatment because they cannot obtain GP appointments, it has been alleged.

A new survey has found that 14% of the population admit to treating themselves – or to turning to an untrained person for help – because of difficulties in getting appointments. Another 14% say they have gone to an emergency department instead.

The findings come from an opinion poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, involving some 2,226 people. In the poll, 20% said they had gone to a pharmacy to get medication without seeing a GP – or they had gone online for advice and information. And one third said that, in spite of being pain, they had delayed seeing a doctor.

Educational video on the changes in primary care

Practices have been given access to three new videos to help patients understand changes in primary care and how best to seek help. The videos have been devised by the London-wide Local Medical Committees and include an explanation of why a patient might need to tell a receptionist about their medical concerns.

The videos cover the following areas: “Why should I tell a receptionist what my problem is?”, “Who else might provide my appointment with a GP practice?” and “I have a health concern, who should I talk to first?”.

It is hoped that these videos will answer patients’ common questions and enable them to access the appropriate help in a timely way.

A practice runs out of space

A practice in Norfolk has lodged an application for a temporary building as it has run out of space to cater for a growing population, the BBC has reported. The practice in Diss claims that many of its staff currently have to work from home because of space shortages.

The town’s population has risen by approximately 7,500 people in ten years, so plans for a temporary portacabin in the grounds of the Diss Health Centre on Mount Street have been submitted to South Norfolk Council as the practice is “desperate” for space.

A report to South Norfolk Council states: “Outreach nurses are having to work from home, which is not ideal, and additional clinical services are at present not being facilitated due to lack of clinical rooms.”

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