Save general practice GPs issue plea to patients
Hundreds of thousands of patients are set to be asked, over the summer, to sign a petition calling on the four governments of the UK to save general practice.
The petition, which will be accompanied by a hard-hitting poster showing long queues of people waiting outside a GP practice in a nightmare vision of the future, will be sent out to every surgery in the UK over the next week.
The petition and poster, which have been produced by the Royal College of General Practitioners and the National Association for Patient Participation, call on the governments of the UK to reverse the swingeing cuts made to the funding of general practice over the last decade - which many believe have left some services struggling to survive.
Research from the RCGP has revealed that over the last decade, the number of patient consultations has soared to an all-time high while funding for general practice has dropped to an historic low.
Over 90% of NHS patient contacts take place within general practice and GP teams are now seeing 40m more patients a year than they were five years ago - yet funding has plummeted to just 8.39% of the total NHS budget.
The College’s analysis of the independent GP Patient survey shows that 34 million requests for GP consultations will not be met this year due to growing demand against constantly declining resources.
According to Deloitte, if current trends continue, funding for general practice could fall by a further 17% over the next three years to just 7.29% of the NHS budget – which, according to the College, will have disastrous consequences for patient care.
The petition and poster mark the next phase of the RCGP and N.A.P.P campaign, Put Patients First: Back general practice, which calls for an increase in funding to 11% by 2017.
RCGP Chair Dr Maureen Baker said:
"General practice across the UK is on the edge, with GP workloads ballooning, funding for general practice plummeting and up to 100 practices at risk of closure in the next year.
"The overwhelming majority of GPs - some of whom conduct up to 60 patient consultations a day - are now so busy that they fear they may miss something serious in one of their patients.
"The risk to safe patient care has never been greater - and it is because GPs are so concerned about the standard of care they can deliver that we hope patients across the country will sign our petition calling on the four governments of the UK to give general practice the investment it desperately needs.
“Never before has the College felt it necessary to ask patients to sign a petition or to send each practice such a hard-hitting poster for their waiting rooms, but general practice is now under greater pressure than ever before.
“More than 1m patient consultations are carried out by family doctors every day and demand for GP services is growing year-on-year, with a population that is getting bigger and growing older, with more and more people suffering from multiple conditions."
She added:
“Patients are having to wait ever longer for appointments and it is inevitable that some of them will end up going to hospital or worse still, not seeking help at all.
“General practice conducts 90% of NHS patient contacts for just 8.39% of the NHS budget. These figures simply do not add up.
"If general practice is to be saved from disintegration the four governments of the UK must increase investment in the service to 11% of the NHS budget by 2017." RCGP Newsfeed
Hundreds of thousands of patients are set to be asked, over the summer, to sign a petition calling on the four governments of the UK to save general practice.
The petition, which will be accompanied by a hard-hitting poster showing long queues of people waiting outside a GP practice in a nightmare vision of the future, will be sent out to every surgery in the UK over the next week.
The petition and poster, which have been produced by the Royal College of General Practitioners and the National Association for Patient Participation, call on the governments of the UK to reverse the swingeing cuts made to the funding of general practice over the last decade - which many believe have left some services struggling to survive.
Research from the RCGP has revealed that over the last decade, the number of patient consultations has soared to an all-time high while funding for general practice has dropped to an historic low.
Over 90% of NHS patient contacts take place within general practice and GP teams are now seeing 40m more patients a year than they were five years ago - yet funding has plummeted to just 8.39% of the total NHS budget.
The College’s analysis of the independent GP Patient survey shows that 34 million requests for GP consultations will not be met this year due to growing demand against constantly declining resources.
According to Deloitte, if current trends continue, funding for general practice could fall by a further 17% over the next three years to just 7.29% of the NHS budget – which, according to the College, will have disastrous consequences for patient care.
The petition and poster mark the next phase of the RCGP and N.A.P.P campaign, Put Patients First: Back general practice, which calls for an increase in funding to 11% by 2017.
RCGP Chair Dr Maureen Baker said:
"General practice across the UK is on the edge, with GP workloads ballooning, funding for general practice plummeting and up to 100 practices at risk of closure in the next year.
"The overwhelming majority of GPs - some of whom conduct up to 60 patient consultations a day - are now so busy that they fear they may miss something serious in one of their patients.
"The risk to safe patient care has never been greater - and it is because GPs are so concerned about the standard of care they can deliver that we hope patients across the country will sign our petition calling on the four governments of the UK to give general practice the investment it desperately needs.
“Never before has the College felt it necessary to ask patients to sign a petition or to send each practice such a hard-hitting poster for their waiting rooms, but general practice is now under greater pressure than ever before.
“More than 1m patient consultations are carried out by family doctors every day and demand for GP services is growing year-on-year, with a population that is getting bigger and growing older, with more and more people suffering from multiple conditions."
She added:
“Patients are having to wait ever longer for appointments and it is inevitable that some of them will end up going to hospital or worse still, not seeking help at all.
“General practice conducts 90% of NHS patient contacts for just 8.39% of the NHS budget. These figures simply do not add up.
"If general practice is to be saved from disintegration the four governments of the UK must increase investment in the service to 11% of the NHS budget by 2017." RCGP Newsfeed
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