To think this budget will finish us off

[BurnoutGP]

I am a GP Partner of over 20 years. I am now senior partner for the last few years. We have seen year on year below inflation funding increase. With an explosion in demand and massive shift of work from secondary care. We have issues wirh recruitment.
Our partner income is shrinking year on year. We are now always overdrawn and this gets worse every month.
We just cannot soak up the MLW and NI without adequate resource uplift.
I think we will be done. I'm so very tired of the constant battle and the demand and anger while working "part time" 60hr weeks.
We will have to hand back our contract. And we wont be the only one. That will leave one surviving practice in my area.
I'm done.

I run businesses myself - I have a very good idea thank you very much. The number of people who don't undertake basic business planning is staggering.

You clearly know absolutely nothing about the businesses I am talking about.

On a positive, it should mean an exodus of people from the private to the public sector, driving improvements (same as other posters say will happen from private to state schools….)

Lets see some competition fire up the public sector.

So many people who have no idea of how businesses are run, basic economics or how much these private sector jobs employ people.

I think unemployment benefits which over a couple of years we will see rise due to inevitable increased unemployment will cost a lot more overall.

'It certainly isn't the same as being an accountant or solicitor. They have to treat their clients with respect else not get paid. If their staff were rude they would be dismissed. They are also far more accountable to their clients when things go wrong.'

Now you really are being foolish @RosesAndHellebores. You obviously are not interested in educating yourself by listening to people who actually do the job. I won't waste my time by engaging with you further.

Op, yesterday's news might feel like the final nail in the coffin, but the reality is that you've been treading water for years and change is needed to address it, not a government shying away from NI and NMW increases that may ultimately lead to much better investment in broken public services. In your situation, I would be contacting your MP to highlight how many years of inadequate and ineffective policy has left your surgery at danger of collapse.

Good point.

'I think unemployment benefits which over a couple of years we will see rise due to inevitable increased unemployment will cost a lot more overall.'

I agree. So many small minded comments from people who can't see the problems that will hit us down the line.

We're here, largely, due to economic (from covid restrictions) snapback/demand, disruption to production, global trade, furlough and so on... Yet most people were in favour of economic shutdown 🤔 The conservative government were, as you would've expected given their raison d'etre, very reluctant to impose iron fisted restrictions in law; their hand was forced entirely by public demand. Given the volume of demand (80% iirc) for economic shutdown, it stands to reason that most people now complaining about their financial situation were in fact demanding today's inevitable fate; "Ask, and ye shall receive" eh...

The effect of brexit isn't remotely equitable to the effect of closing down the economy for months (just pre-empting the nonsensical/partisan claims to the contrary).

Unemployment rates are currently low and many industries have unfilled vacancies. It just isn't going to happen that if some of these zombie business fail that good people won't take up some of these roles.

Because medical phone calls aren't predictable. One will take two minutes, the next thirty. And there is no room for any space/ slack between appointments.

GPs would be in a much better position if the BMA released their stranglehold over them.

It is odd that pp still can’t do this.

I think unemployment benefits which over a couple of years we will see rise due to inevitable increased unemployment will cost a lot more overall.

We have labour shortages that are only get worse so there are plenty of jobs out there.

They are trying to sort out the mess the Tories made. Lets give them a chance!

I suspect many will have to move to an online pharmacy type doctor for many things.

I suspect this is what the govt are steering. It's cheaper and can get more people through.

People can see an online gp for minor issues quickly if they are able or willing to pay £30 ish

My job and many others now offer an online doctor service as a perk of the job.

This concerns me as it's moving towards an American system and I'd rather a European as I'm sure many uk citizens would.

It's not right but people are desperate. However I worry serious issues will be missed.

I've had pretty decent service from my practice and an excellent referral to a skin clinic for a mole I was concerned about but I am lucky.

Many are not.

Those two things can’t both be true. A two minute appointment must surely produce quite a lot of slack.

Because people need enough money to live, if they work full time, otherwise the government end up supporting them.
The whole financial system seems to be failing, and the workers at the bottom have been bearing the brunt of this for too long.

Lots of care work but I am not sure there are plenty of other jobs. We have a disguised unemployment problem - mainly because employers are too lazy to train people and an "entry level" job requires 5 years' experience. I see in my own employer that the trainees are early 30s and have had other careers first.

The same is true for deliveries - they don't know what the traffic will be like etc. Yet they can manage to give you a 2 hour window (back in the day it was all day and people kicked up so they found they could give people a 2 hour window after all).

If they can do it, so can GPs. It's easy enough to say I'll call between 9 and 11 but it might be closer to 11.30 if I am running late.

Our business does engage in detailed planning, we had wage increases planned for (and pretty accurately)

But we are a high staff cost industry, and almost everyone is part time by necessity. Staffing cannot be reduced by automation or other efficiencies. What people are missing is that the impact is massively higher percentage wise against jobs which have a lower salary vs a higher salary. That's not just about low paid industries but about industries which employ pt staff. Those which combine both are really and rightfully worried.

You're looking at a change which will add about 1.8% to the cost of employing someone high paid, but over 6% extra on employing someone on say 16 hours at real living wage. That's just the NI component.

There may be some truth in this. It’s only human to feel more gloomy about the future than necessary.

That’s why I think the government should announce a public sector pay freeze for the duration of the parliament. After a bit of blustering for the benefit of their union representatives most of the public sector will be fine.

I find these posts baffling. You wouldn't get John Lewis to deliver your washing machine outside of your "busy schedule". Neither would your mechanic sort out your MOT at 6pm. Presumably you have a health issue when you go to your GP. Having time off for this is enshrined in law.

Healthcare issues are complex and the funding is always going to be difficult. But these arrogant posts from people who really aren't vulnerable aren't helpful. Just saying, "well look, I'm much more important than you and the majority of your patients, so you can just see me at my convenience, otherwise it's a terrible service " is part of the reason we're going to lose universal health care.

They are in the minority. In the above example, the system assumes that all appointments last no more than ten minutes. And there's four patients to a slot because people cancel occasionally, right? Also, there's 15 minutes of additional referral paperwork / test ordering to do in that 10 minute slot. And you have to fax that off yourself because there's only one receptionist.

That’s why I think the government should announce a public sector pay freeze for the duration of the parliament. After a bit of blustering for the benefit of their union representatives most of the public sector will be fine.

How would that go down with the NHS?

After a year of strikes by groups of public sector workers some of whom have never gone on strike before you think a five year public sector pay freeze is a good idea? Well if you want the entire healthcare, social care and education infrastructure to collapse, go ahead. I’ve clearly overestimated you.