Frustrations at Earn GP surgery
The news that two GPs at the Bridge of Earn medical practice will quit at the end of this month was not entirely unexpected and underlines the GP recruitment crisis across the NHS.
Within 24 hours of the news coming out, a public meeting had been organised by the community council, which I spoke at.
Nearly 200 concerned residents packed the Dunbarney Church Hall, anxious as to what the future holds. Will they have to travel to Perth to access appointments? Will they even be able to get appointments? What about the nursing homes? What were the reasons for the resignations?
Unfortunately, neither NHS Tayside nor representatives from the council/NHS Integrated Joint Board were able to attend to answer questions. In many ways the resignations are not that unexpected, the doctors surgery building is not fit for primary care in the 21st century. If you were a GP it’s not a surgery you would expect to base your entire medical career in. This isn’t just a Bridge of Earn issue of course, the legacy of old surgery buildings is a problem for many practices.
The NHS has been tasked with resolving it by taking over these often privately owned assets, or in many cases, building new centres fit for multi-disciplinary services. Health professionals can and should all be working together often under the same roofs, with quick referrals for treatments nipping health problems in the bud. GPs should be at the hub of all this but they shouldn’t be the sole provider of every aspect of specialist support.
The frustration of Bridge of Earn has come after years of prevarication by the Integrated Joint Board and NHS about the new health and wellbeing centre the community desperately needs. Uncertainty over housing development proposals at the Oudenarde site have not helped, but we need to see progress now, or at the very least a clear timescale for when the final decisions can be made.
The immediate issue is what happens after August 30. I have been liaising closely with NHS Tayside who will take over the service and while they assure me that a package is being worked up in time to support patients, they have been less forthcoming in discussing options at this point.
At the public meeting, my suggestion of a summit to discuss short and long term plans for local health services was welcomed. I had hoped that this could take place ahead of the GPs leaving, but the IJB and NHS have so far been reluctant to commit to an earlier meeting.
NHS services need to be planned more transparently with communities, especially where active communities such as Bridge of Earn are working very hard to engage.
The future is in creating more joined up approaches to local healthcare, GPs are no longer willing to carry unsustainable workloads and don’t want to work out of sub-standard facilities.
Patients can get better quality services if we create the right environment for GPs and other health professionals to come, but they need a decent roof.