What IS going on with GP surgeries??

[headintheproverbial]

I don't want to bash anyone and understand the GPs have worked in tough conditions throughout this pandemic.

However my GP surgery seems to have gone to pot. It's a large surgery and am sure very busy but previously I was able to get an appointment for me or the children in a reasonable timescale, on the day itself the surgery wasn't rammed, appointments ran broadly to time etc.

Now things have moved to a phone triage system which is fine and completely understandable. Except one can't reach the surgery by phone (average wait 30 mins +), the appointments are weeks and weeks in the future and today so far the GP is 45 mins late calling.

I totally accept they must have a backlog but you'd think that phone appointments are at least quicker and easier to manage? Or is it the combo of phone and then having to see people in person as well?

Genuinely curious.

There's more work than staff.
Chronic staffing issues and staff leaving due to many reasons related to the pandemic.
Recruitment issues for same reasons

Not forgetting staff needing to isolate

My doctor's surgery used to be bustling with staff, at least 3 of not 4 on reception and several more admin people seen in a big back office. About 15 GPs all working different days and a team of nearly as many nurse practitioners.

I have been for an in-person appointment three times in the last few months. Each time there was one receptionist, the back office was deserted and not another member of admin staff to be seen anywhere. Not a soul, which certainly explains why it takes so long for them to answer the phone. It takes on average nearly 3/4 of an hour to get through, and the line is closed between 12 and 2 as well.

What have they done with them all?

I work in a GP surgery in an admin role and we are drowning. In 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (during pandemic), we did about 12.5k appointments per year (a mixture of telephone, face to face and home visits). In the first 5 months of 2021 we did 11k.

The hospitals are still backlogged, so we have a lot of complex patients who would usually be cared for mainly by the hospital,but who are now requiring a lot more care from us as they are unable to receive their usual care at the hospital.

A lot of staff from community services that we usually work with have been redeployed to help with the vaccination programme, so there's less community support for us also.

To be honest, the NHS was stretched to breaking point before this, and this pandemic has been hellish. We're honestly working harder than we've ever worked, but a lot of us feel broken now. I think it's going to take a long time for the NHS to rebuild after this.

There’s a shortage of GP’s to the tune of around 4000 I think.
So that’ll fuck things up. GPs are leaving every day. Haemorrhaging.

Have a look at the thread on AIBU thats running at the moment called To Think GPs Need To Unlock The Doors/Open Properly. Its been discussed in depth there all day.

Whats happening is the government lied.

About training more doctors

About providing more resources.

They changed the pension rules so that if you worked more, you got hit with massive tax bills.

They've been pushing more services out of hospital, into primary care as its 'cheaper'.

If I didn't know better, I'd almost say it was an intentional attempt to kill off the health service...

Chronic underfunding, burnout of staff leading to recruitment issues (medical and admin), transfer of workload from hospitals onto primary care, delays to treatment/operations which mean people are left for longer in pain/under treated and lean more heavily on GPs as they can’t see anyone in secondary care. Covid has been terrible and the long term impact on your GP services will not resolve quickly.