40% of GPs plan to quit Social care ‘collapsing’
TWO in five GPs are planning to leave their posts, a survey has revealed.
And seven out of 10 family doctors intend to change their working patterns so they have less contact with patients – either by leaving direct patient care, taking a career break or reducing their hours.
More than half say morale is low, the survey of 2,200 GPs in the South West of England discovered.
Figures published in March show that 150 GPs are quitting every month. The Government has vowed to recruit 5,000 more by 2020. Professor John Campbell, who led the University of Exeter’s research, said: “If the GPs we surveyed fulfil their intentions and no action is taken, the South West of England will experience a severe shortfall of GPs in the next five years. “If GPs in other regions have similar intentions, as many are reporting, the country needs to take robust action urgently.” BRITAIN’S social care system has “begun to collapse”, figures show.
Data from charity Skills For Care shows more than 1.3 million people were employed in adult social care in 2015/16.
An estimated 338,520 of them quit, equivalent to 928 carers a day.
Yesterday The Mirror exposed a shocking variation in care home quality across England after millions of pounds worth of cuts to council budgets.
In a letter to PM Theresa May, Mike Padgham, chairman of the UK Homecare Association, said: “My biggest fear is we will soon run out of capacity to provide care to those who can’t fund themselves. The system has begun to collapse already.” The average full-time care worker’s pay is £7.69 an hour. Trudi Hewitt, 25, who works in a care home in Scarborough, North Yorks, said: “I feel the sector is a dead end job.” The government insists £2bn extra is being invested in social care over three years.