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.

A few arrests and seizures have happened the main outcome is more people per boat, higher profit for smugglers and greater risk of death in the channel

Not much to spin there. I agree with the common sense though, it is hot air and can't work

There was a great interview on BBC WS with a man from Vietnam who described his journey, there's a VIP service now set up if people wish to pay more. He did lie to get asylum but kind of regrets it now as working in a cannabis farm isn't what he wanted.

Following your logic, the ‘idiotic electorate’ would comprise voters from all political hues.

In any event, the ability for Labour to seek to incessantly blame 14 years of Tory government, has passed. Last Wednesday’s budget drew a line - the ‘black hole’ was cauterised (mixed metaphors aside).

Now Labour own it.

One budget which hasn't had time to come into effect yet can't draw a line under the Tory mess. We will be dealing with that for years.

And suggesting almost a third of the last 14 years of Tory is still labour's fault for having JC as leader is frankly scraping the bottom.

Social care is going to be a huge headache for Labour- increasing minimum wage and Nat Insurance makes personal care more expensive. The total failure of social care is a major reason why the NHS is struggling, as we have a high level of admissions due to frail elderly people being unsafe at home, preventable falls plus being unable to discharge people due to lack of carers or suitable placements. We need a serious conversation about how care is funded and the NHS should be able to recoup costs from social care for bed blocking.

Will councils be paying this higher rate?

I agree it hasn't really been talked about much but social care is a huge rising cost and councils are struggling already

Not just councils of course but people paying, when we have people staying in beds issues already

In October 2020, a report by the UK's human rights watchdog found Labourto be responsible for "unlawful" acts of harassment and discrimination during Jeremy Corbyn's four-and a-half years as party leader.

Tell me this had no impact on Labour’s ability to act as meaningful opposition.

Meanwhile, in July only 35 per cent voted Labour—yet the party won a landslide. Voters were united in punishing the Conservatives.

Labour will now be dealing with a mess of their own making - dont for one moment understimate the electorate - they know BS.

If your 10k overdrawn each month your drawing more from the business in partner salaries/drawings than it can afford.
As a first step I'd realign your finances so the books balance.

I do sympathise on the business model. It's very clear that the government has not kept funding in line with inflation and an aging population together with more demand on GP services.

I suspect that most of your GPS are earning more than double or treble the average wage.

No idea if the source is accurate but took this from the internet:

On average, a GP partner in England earns about £110,000, while in Scotland (and similarly in Wales and Northern Ireland) the average GP partner's pay is £98,700.

@EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime you know Labour then booted him out? I think you're hyper focusing on one issue. Imagine if we all did that with the Tories brexit/covid

No.

Social care? Theresa May tried to find a workable solution but the media screamed Dementia Tax and it was scrapped. Whatever proposals any government put forward that inconvenience any particular group of people, the loud voices of campaigners and vested interests who immediately claim not fair start making noises and the idea is scrapped or watered down. Unless it’s student nurses and bursaries of course. What kind of country/government do we want?

Corbyn stepped down following defeat in the 2019 GE.

You otherwise seek to reduce the complexities of two hugely significant issues.
Labour flip flopped during the withdrawal discussions - but you knew that.

My point stands - Labour own this - no more deflection.

THANK YOU.

You're right about the dementia tax and I think May losing ground has put other politicians off from suggesting the same

But I haven't seen much on the budget's impact on care homes and what that will do for both private payers and councils

The latter's costs for social care are an extortionate part of their budget, squeezing other provisions, actually plus SEN related which will go up as some leave the private school sector. So what will happen to councils with the social care bill going up?

And private payers finding it harder and not moving people to care homes

As it stands this budget is worse than austerity ever was for social care… I work at a senior level in public sector finance, and our modelling is that the increase in social care grant funding is just one quarter of what’s needed to fund NLW and NI in the adult social care sector… and that’s without recognising that the demographic demand from an older population, or that the extra grant has to stretch to children’s social care too.

I’m struggling to believe that this is worse,
far worse, than the Tories ever did… It is truly appalling.

What kind of country do we live in if those jobs are only worth minimum wage? I’m not saying I doubt what you’re saying-but women-and it’s normally women-are being very underpaid imo for an important, skilled, life enhancing job. Something is wrong if by giving them a modest increase, places will close.

What precisely does Labour own?

Their spending from now on

Hopefully we’ve now finally heard the last of the note in the drawer at the Treasury then.

Meanwhile, in July only 35 per cent voted Labour—yet the party won a landslide. Voters were united in punishing the Conservatives.

Only 33.7% of people who voted voted Labour. Fewer people voted for Labour at this election than in the last when when the Conservatives got an 80 seat majority.

Accountability.

You seem to be deflecting my criticism of the Tories' poorly thought out Rwanda policy by trying to deflect criticism onto Labour. They have been in power for just under 4 months. It was costing a great deal of money to house immigrants while they waited for a v long time for their cases to be heard under the Tories and it still is under Labour.
My other point was that I suspect neither of them actually want to significantly reduce the numbers anyway.

This is correct.
Theresa May's suggestion was a very reasonable one but she was totally sabotaged on this and her much more reasonable than Boris's Brexit plans by the right wing in her party and the right wing media.
Most people seem to expect someone else to pay for them. As the current system stands, a small group of people are taxed very heavily to pay for most other people.

'And suggesting almost a third of the last 14 years of Tory is still labour's fault for having JC as leader is frankly scraping the bottom'

It is rather. It's fair to say that Labour made huge mistakes but the Tories were in government and there is very little excuse if any for the mess they created. The only thing that Tories did brilliantly well in the last 14 years was deflecting the blame onto anyone and everyone else and gaslighting people.

That's a fair point but the fact is that society simply does not value people who care for elderly and disabled people. Ditto nursery workers.
Secondly, a lot of older people in this country, wealthy ones, resent paying for their care. Some of them seem to think that someone else should pay. They put their houses in trust, transfer money to their children and find ways of reducing their assets because they are entitled and think someone else should pay despite them having plenty of money.

These two things need to change for care workers to be paid and treated better.

Sorry, but its not quite so binary as you would have it.

Let’s address two major elements raised earlier.

Brexit came in two parts - the referendum, and execution of the withdrawal agreeement and process. Both parts necessitated Labour involvement, naturally. Corbyn attempted a policy of neutrality - of deliberate vagueness - of flip flops.
Look at the 2019 GE.

The pandemic was of course global in scale - we have no way of knowing how Labour would have handled it - but we can of course benchmark the Tories versus other western governments - shall we do that together?