Social workers reveal impact of Fife GP crisis

Unqualified staff deciding who sees doctors , say whistleblowers

A pair of social workers have shone a spotlight on the shocking impact Fife’s GP shortage is having on patient care.

The whistleblowers said people’s health is being put at risk because unqualified staff are triaging patients and telling them to wait in early morning queues for coveted appointments.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one said: “They are making decisions about who gets to see a doctor, which means that serious problems could be missed.”

The claims emerged after The Courier revealed sick people are regularly having to queue outside surgeries from the early morning hours instead of trying to secure an appointment by phone.

Fife’s health and social care partnership said it had been proactive in supporting practices as they seek to recruit salaried GPs and partners amid a national shortage.

Fife’s health and social care partnership has repeatedly stressed that the shortage of GPs is a national problem – and not solely confined to the kingdom.

In response to the claims made by the whistleblowers who contacted The Courier, Claire Dobson, divisional general manager for the partnership, reiterated that point.

“There is a national shortage of general practitioners across Scotland,” she said.

“This has had an effect in Fife as it has had elsewhere.

“In Fife the health and social care partnership has been proactive in supporting practices as they seek to recruit salaried GPs and partners.

“We have increased clinical pharmacy input to practices, alongside support from nurse practitioners and community mental health teams.

“These individuals are all highly trained professionals and are more than capable of assessing patients’ needs.”

Dr Sharon Mullan, partner and GP cluster lead for Levenmouth, said practices were constantly looking at their systems to ensure “appropriate and timely” access for all those patients who require care.

She continued: “Similar to our GP colleagues across the rest of the country, practices in Levenmouth are working under increasing pressure as we care for a population which is living longer and often doing so with multiple conditions.

“Despite these pressures, our practices continue to offer routine appointments on the day, emergency appointments for patients who require them and telephone advice from either a GP or an experienced and highly qualified nurse trained to deal with minor ailments. This is in addition to routine appointments booked further in advance.

“Furthermore, reception staff are trained specifically in assessing whether a patient needs to see a GP or nurse practitioner.”