A LOCAL doctor says his profession is under huge pressure as it deals with ever more patients, shrinking investment and an ongoing recruitment crisis.
Dr Jonathan Wells of Hillview Surgery on Bromsgrove Road says a rise in patients with complex conditions, more ill people being diverted out of hospitals into primary care and a fall in community nurses – by 38 per cent in the ten years from 2001 to 2011 – were adding to the problem.
In addition the GP profession is facing a surge in retirements.
“We have excellent quality Primary Care services in Redditch & Bromsgrove, but support is needed to maintain these in the face of the ongoing pressures,” said the former chairman of Redditch and Bromsgrove Clinical Commissioning Group who stood down earlier this year.
‘Primary Care’ is dealt with by GP surgeries, while ‘Acute Care’ is handled by hospitals like the Alexandra in Redditch and Worcestershire Royal in Worcester.
In his regular Blog (http://rbafchair.blogspot.co.uk/) Dr Wells details how Primary Care deals with 90 per cent of patient contacts but with less than ten per cent of the resources.
In addition 40 per cent of demand for primary care is for on-the-day consultations. However, around 20 per cent of GP consultations do not actually require input from a doctor.
He concludes that it is unrealistic to manage complex cases within 10-minute appointment slots.
“The government has now signalled a strong desire to reverse the decline in Primary Care, indeed there is an acceptance that the very future of the NHS depends on this,” he said.
“However, it is clear that the status quo in terms of how General Practice is delivered is not an option.”
He adds that to provide all that is demanded of it the service in the future it will need ‘significant new investment’.
