‘It’s not what I signed up for – but I’m not retiring yet’

DR Nick Brown, 61, a GP in Wiltshire, said: “I worked full-time for 25 years with a variety of other responsibilities, including teaching, commissioning and providing medical cover for the local community hospital.

“Two years ago, I opted for a job share and we now look after 3,200 patients.

“When I joined all those years ago,

I was warned that I would be taking on ‘a very busy job’ and that my predecessor had struggled to cope. It still is and the demands are greater.

“On a typical working day I talk to 40 patients through face-to-face consultations, home visits, and virtual or telephone appointments.

“There’ll be perhaps 100 administrative contacts via texts, emails, the website and NHS App.

“In addition, I’ll deal with blood test results, prescribing queries and follow-up requests from both primary and secondary care.

“Medicine is now extremely complicated.

“The huge strides made in areas such as autoimmunity, diabetes, cardiac, renal and cancer treatment mean complex drugs are sometimes initiated and often monitored in primary care.

“And our elderly patients take increasingly complex drugs which must be monitored with a critical combination of medical and pharmaceutical skills.

“We supervise an army of administrators, nurse practitioners, first-contact therapists, pharmacists, care coordinators and social prescribers, and more recently have hosted a vaccination service that has delivered over 70,000 Covid jabs.

“The job I’m now required to do is not the job I signed up for, but when people ask when I’ll be retiring, they’re surprised when I say not yet.”