‘YEARS OF UNDER-FUNDING HAVE PUT MEDICS OFF BECOMING GPs’
One of the country’s leading doctors believes years of under-funding is putting medics off becoming GPs. Richard Youle reports...
ALEADING UK doctor has claimed young medics have given general practice the cold shoulder in Wales due to “a decade of under-investment” in the system.
Helen Stokes-Lampard said general practice was a thoroughly rewarding and stimulating career, despite perceptions in some quarters to the contrary.
The Swansea-born doctor, who is chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), last week visited Swansea University’s medical school, Gower College Swansea and Penyrheol Comprehensive School on a fact-finding trip.
RCGP Wales has called on the Welsh Government to expand the GP workforce by 485 by 2021, and said general practice received 7.2% of the Welsh NHS budget compared to 9% in England.
It was very much a home-coming for Dr Stokes-Lampard, who attended Penyrheol before taking her A-levels at what was then Gorseinon College.
Of her trip, she said: “I met a lot of medical students who were very enthusiastic about careers in general practice.
“It was wonderful to see Swansea with a vibrant medical school – it’s long overdue.”
Dr Stokes-Lampard, who is based in England, added: “The NHS and general practice have suffered a decade of under-investment.
“It’s a depleted workforce – we just don’t have the numbers of doctors and nurses we need to care for patients.
“Many of the (GP) premises are dilapidated, and we don’t have the equipment at our disposal. GPs want to give great care to their patients, but the system is under-resourced.
“As a consequence it’s turning off young people from becoming GPs.”
The 47-year-old, who still practises one day a week, said GPs built longterm relationships with patients, and that every case involved narrowing down a diagnosis from the “entire spectrum” of diseases. “It’s very challenging,” she said. She said GPs could carry out research, teach medical students and focus on areas of specialism. Asked if GPs were actually able to do these things given time pressures, she said: “It does happen in surgeries.”
She urged the Welsh Government to encourage these activities to help recruit and retain doctors.
“We have heard promises and positive noises from the Welsh Government, but nice words are not enough,” she said.
The Welsh Government said changes to the GP contract for 2017/18 meant investment in primary care had increased by around £27m, together with a £40m investment in surgery buildings.
A spokesman said: “As a result of our successful Train, Work, Live campaign we are also attracting more GPs and other primary care professionals than ever before to come to work in Wales.”
Many GP surgeries are forming into clusters at the behest of Cardiff Bay to better plan and deliver care for patients.
“It’s not happening fast enough,” said Dr Stokes-Lampard.
While on her visit she also checked out Ty’r Felin Surgery, Gorseinon, where she said “a load of young and energetic GPs are trying to innovate”.
She said patients could check their blood pressure and heart rate in the waiting-room, that advanced nurses were helping people manage conditions such as diabetes, and that GPs advised patients on who best to see when they returned their phone calls.
Dr Stokes-Lampard said GPs in Wales had a history of contributing advances in research, such as Dr Julian Tudor Hart, who put forward a proposition in 1971 that the most deprived areas received worse care than affluent ones. It was known as the inverse care law.
“That work was revolutionary,” said Dr Stokes-Lampard. “It’s about where resources are allocated — and it (the situation) is no better now.”