Young GPS reluctant to work long hours

AN UNWILLINGNESS by new GPS to work as hard as their older colleagues is threatening to overwhelm surgeries, a senior medic has suggested.

Dr Laurence Buckman, formerly the highest-ranking GP at the British Medical Association (BMA), said the appetite among young family doctors to “go beyond the extra mile has evaporated” in recent years.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, he also called for a daily cap on patient numbers in order to avoid tired doctors making mistakes. “My generation can still turn it on and keep going until the last straggler has been seen, but perhaps the time has come to stop doing so. My younger partners can do the extra hours if necessary but they really don’t like it – younger doctors really do not want to work a 14-hour day. Many came into general practice so they wouldn’t have to.”

Dr Buckman said it was common for GPS to see some 36 patients each day, not including walk-in “emergencies” and those seen in out-visits.

This can amount to around 12 hours of face-to-face time with patients and another two hours’ paperwork.

The BMJ article argues the standard 10-minute consultation is too short to examine adequately and treat patients, and that the pressure is “now dangerous for doctors and patients”.

Dr Buckman said younger GPS’ unwillingness to work the same hours as older colleagues stems partly from a different approach to patient safety, but is also because many view general practice as an escape from the notoriously long shifts required in hospitals. The comments follow the recent proposal by the BMA to cap the daily number of patients seen by each GP.

Meanwhile new research this week in the British Journal of General Practice revealed the chances of patients seeing the same GP has fallen by more than a quarter since 2012.

The Government has promised to create up to 5,000 extra GP posts by 2020 compared with 2015 in an effort to ease pressure, as well as increasing incentives for experienced family doctors to keep practising.

However, a review last year by the Royal College of GPS indicated that efforts to stop doctors quitting were not working, with four in 10 saying they were planning to retire within five years.