IN MY VIEW... A SOLUTION TO THE GP CRISIS

JUST 10 per cent of junior doctors want to become GPs, a new survey for the British Medical Association has found.

As the Government has said it wants half of medical graduates to go into general practice, this presents a worrying shortfall — not least with general practice losing almost 3,000 partners in the past few years. Until relatively recently, most GPs wanted to be partners — essentially contractors who run their surgeries as independent small businesses.

General practice used to be an attractive option. When I completed my postgraduate training, there were more than 50 applicants for every GP partnership post. It was intensely competitive, and becoming a partner was seen as a commitment for life.

But young doctors today clearly are not drawn to it, perhaps because of the added risks and uncertainties of the business on top of all the admin, as well as the annual appraisals that all doctors must go through. The doctoring bit we all joined up to do is becoming increasingly squeezed.

Half of those who do opt for general practice prefer salaried posts with a promise of a better work-life balance.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the Government is ‘doing what [it] can to reinvigorate the partnership model’, but to me, this simply implies it is out of touch with why doctors are rejecting that model.

In fact, I think a shift towards salaried GPs is inevitable and a good thing, as the salaried doctor is able to concentrate on what matters: caring for patients. They, too, will gain from a doctor who is only doctoring.

It might be just what is needed to entice more young doctors into general practice. Putting all GPs on a salary could also deal with the problem of out-of-hours care.

Instead of trying to revitalise the moribund partnership, it’s time for an intelligent rethink.