To think GP surgeries shouldn’t be closed over Easter weekend? [Title edited by MNHQ]

[Albertslittletie]

AIBU unreasonable to think there’s no reason for Gp surgeries to be closed for four days over Easter weekend? They aren’t even closed for this long over Christmas.
Why does this happen? I don’t work in the NHS but I don’t understand why most other services seem to run apart from a GP surgery, doesn’t this just force people towards A and E?

Thanks, this is what I wasn’t sure of!

Perhaps they work on a part time contract basis

GPs have been closed over Easter since before I left home, which was almost 50 years ago. Some surgeries used to open on a Saturday morning when I was a kid, but by the time I was in my teens that had stopped, and I don't remember if that included Easter Saturday.

There are other services open over the weekend though, NHS111, A&E and, where I live, the urgent treatment centres are open 8am-8pm as usual.

YABU, OP.

They are closed the same if Christmas Day and Boxing Day land on a weekend

Why shouldn't they be closed?

Palliative patients are looked after by district nurses and palliative teams who still working weekends and bank holidays

Why does it bother you though?

If you meds, organise yourself, you knew the Easter weekend was coming same as you know about Xmas.

Palliative care has nothing to do with the GP from my experience so that would still happen and the nurses who looked after my mum always had someone to call if needed.

Your post seems goady.

But it's a bank holiday - GPs don't open on bank holidays ever - they don't open on weekends here either.

Because it just feels like a really long time to take away such a needed service from people? And just push the workload onto the staff who do NOT get bank holidays off….

Had to take my toddler to a minor injuries unit today as visited 4 pharmacies and they were all closed. Called 111 and they said the issue did need seeing to today so luckily got us an appointment at the clinic. The nurses and staff were excellent.

Honestly no. Speaking as someone who has left general practice to work in a patient care role which does require me to work weekends, bank holidays and nights on a rota. It’s still better and more manageable than general practice was.

That’s really interesting to know - thank you

So what would your solution be op?

@GwinGwynplus to be fair the decision to live 18 miles from a hospital is yours. I live within three miles of two hospitals, because I choose to.

Hardly a choice! they close A&E depts and put everything in big, superhub hospitals. I used to have an A&E dept 2miles from me, this they closed completely. I used to have one 6 miles away, which they then switched to minor injuries 24hrs, and recently to a walk in/minor injuries up to 8pm. My nearest A&E is therefore 40minutes drive away (about 18miles), with awful transport links and there are hardly any taxis at 2am, so it's very hard to get to. Most of the clinics run out of that hospital too, so things like parking are a nightmare. And I am in suburbia, not the depths of the countryside. I hate being this far away but we can't all live near to these few hospitals.

@needsomewarmsunshine thank you for your service

i don’t think we live in the Utopia that would allow any decent solution to happen tbh….

GPs aren't funded to work over Easter. NHSE could offer that funding, but they choose not to. Are you volunteering to work the long weekend, in your usual job, for free?

Really? Do you think that people are getting routine elective surgery or being invited in for outpatients appointments over Easter? Emergency services run. Routine services don't.

Of course not.

to be clear, this is not a criticism of anyone who works in a GP surgery - just a system that underfunds it to allow a four day closure.

It isn't just the GPs though is it? It would be prohibitively expensive to have GPs, secretaries, reception staff and nursing staff on site on a BH (which is really what you'd need if it's just a normal working day). And then without the pharmacies being open/no outpatient phlebotomy services/ etc it'd all be a bit pointless for a lot of people as they wouldn't be able to get the prescriptions they were given/get the blood tests etc. A lot of GPs will be working today to cover the OOH services, and I bet quite a few of them will be spending their 'off' time doing admin too. For the ones that are having a long weekend off - good for them - they're no less deserving than anyone else in the country!

I didn't see the OP as goady. It was a question and they have taken the replies in good grace.

There are a lot of misunderstandings and myths as to how General Practice is funded, commissioned and provided. These are often fed/potentiated by politicians and the media for their own ends.

If General Practice want the public to understand the reality of the state we are currently in then we have to be willing to explain the facts (it is hard not to take it as personal criticism when as knackered as many of us are)

I sometimes wish we weren't, as the added workload for the days before and after the Bank holiday make it extra stressful!
However, we aren't contracted to open and other services like couriers for lab samples and local pharmacies would all have to open as well.

@softkitty79 there are so many of these sorts of questions, though, so maybe maybe there is an agenda.

GPs aren't NHS employees though. They are self-employed and they have contracts to provide services to the NHS.

So why should they alter their hours?

GP surgeries are not contracted to work banks holidays. Would you work for free? Didn’t think so. This a government problem, not a GP problem.

It’s not unreasonable that GPs have the bank holiday off, under the current system. However, it’s unreasonable that the current system is so chronically outdated and underfunded that most people have no access to out of hours gp assistance and Easter means no assistance for four days, making next week an absolute nightmare to get an appointment.

No disrespect to our fantastic medical workers (and indeed non-medical workers), this is a government and infrastructure issue.