Running on empty
Last week Kier Starmer told us that “The NHS is broken but not beaten……it requires major surgery not sticking plasters…….there can be no investment without reform……this is a 10 year project”. What does this mean for us in Silverton and surrounding villages? We recognise the long wait for hospital appointments but we have an excellent surgery; Wyndham House recently ranked 13th out of the 6,311 GP practices in England in the 2024 GP Patient survey.
It is true we do provide an excellent service. This is down to an enormous amount of hard work from our team at the surgery and also the fact that patients use the services we provide in a responsible way. However, we are not immune from the effects of what has been happening in the last 20 years within the NHS. Sadly, this is a story of hospital versus community healthcare. Since 2008 the proportion of NHS budget that has come to Primary Care services has dropped from 11% to 7%, the money being redirected to Secondary Care. The number of hospital doctors has increased by 30% whilst the number of GPs working in the UK has dropped by 10%. There has been an enormous exodus of recently trained GPs to work in Canada and Australia. 1,300 GP practices have closed due to the lack of resource they were given stacked against increasing demand and inflationary costs. Whilst the junior doctors have been awarded a 22% pay increase, investment in General Practice is 5% less than in 2018.
Last year the British Social Attitudes Survey showed a 29% decrease in patient satisfaction with the NHS over the previous 4 yrs. However, 85% of our population want a free at the point of delivery service and are happy to pay more tax to achieve this. Such a service needs a gatekeeper to ensure it is not overrun. This is one of our GP roles but it only works if we are able to provide continuity of care cradle to grave. Wyndham House is top of the rankings because we strive to provide such care but many GPs in the UK have not experienced the satisfaction and enormous health benefits it brings for both GP and patients. The evidence is clear; you live longer and go to hospital less if you know your GP.
I am writing about this because we are having to make some changes that will affect patients to ensure we protect what we have. We take blood tests on behalf of the hospital however the funding for this work has never properly been transferred to us. We can no longer do this and so patients will be directed by the hospital to attend Whipton or Tiverton. We have had an open access ear syringing service however we will now only offer a limited number per week and create a waiting list. We will also need to limit appointments for travel advice. We have recently seen an increase in patients cancelling appointments at the last minute, this wastes valuable clinical time that other patients could have used. From now on when this occurs we will be more direct about our disappointment and record it.
The truth for UK General Practice is that it is near to breaking; it requires major investment to re-establish its core infrastructure and there is not much time for the Government to do this.
Anthony O’Brien
Wyndham House Surgery