Exhausted GP shares reality of brutal day
Doctor responds to patients’ frustrations about face-to-face appointments by detailing her regular 12 to 14-hour days, writes
A GP has penned an open letter to her patients amid ‘unprecedented demand’ at her practice, sharing the reality of 14-hour days amid a ‘recruitment crisis’ in the NHS.
Dr Rebecca Locke, a GP partner at Heaton Moor Medical Group, took to social media to try and quell ‘frustrations’ from patients asked to book a telephone appointment before being seen in person.
The doctor’s words come as primary care staff have been the victims of increasing ‘abuse,’ according to Greater Manchester health bosses, in a report on the region’s NHS pressures.
Dr Locke posted a statement on the Heaton Moor Medical Group’s Facebook page, assuring patients that the group ‘are not closed.’
The letter reads: “Dear patients, “We feel some of the media attention at the moment isn’t really explaining how hard we are working and why some of the appointments are still over the phone.
“Here is a snapshot of my working day pre and post- Covid which I hope will illustrate why we are practicing very differently now. At Heaton Moor Medical Group we have over 30 GPs and four advanced practitioners and their workloads would also look very similar.”
The GP goes on to describe how her workload has increased in the wake of the pandemic, becoming ‘usual’ for her to be working ‘12 to 14 hour days.’
But the new way of working, including consultations over the phone, has allowed her to see more people, says the doctor.
“Pre-Covid, it was common for me to see 32-36 patients face-to-face, and speak to another four to six over the phone,” continued Dr Locke.
“My days were usually about 10-11 hours long. The wait to see a GP was usually about one to two weeks. At times our waiting room was packed; with standing-room only.
“On Monday this week, I consulted 72 patients over the phone. The vast majority had rung the surgery the same day; a small minority within the two working days before.
“On speaking to 62 of these patients, we mutually agreed that their problem had been helped over the phone (or sometimes with pictures and a text back).
In conversation with 10 patients we agreed a further physical examination or face-to-face discussion was necessary.
“I arranged to see eight myself that day in safely managed and distanced face-to-face appointments.
“A further two patients (due to their work or other commitments) opted to wait until later in the week. I had one home visit and also had hundreds of repeat prescriptions to review and sign, and results, letters and emails to review and action.
“Currently it is usual for my working day to be 12-14 hours long.”
Without telephone consultations, the wait to see a GP with the current demand would be ‘over a month,’ warned the doctor.
“Taking into account current government resourcing for staff and premises and the health care worker recruitment crisis; if our default was to see all of those 72 patients face-to-face your current wait to see a GP a would be over a month and increasing exponentially all of the time,” she continued.
“This may cause harmful delays in diagnoses of serious conditions like cancer.”
“Our nursing team continue to offer face-to-face appointments for physical tests such as smears, blood tests and ECGs as usual and have done throughout the pandemic.”
“In return we ask that you please pause briefly just to consider whether you really do need to speak to a GP.
“Particularly if you have a short-term illness such as a sore throat or tummy bug, consider using NHS online to check your symptoms and see if a GP appointment is the best place to get help.
“If the answer is yes, then of course we will help you. Please be considerate to our team, who are working harder than ever to try to help people despite the adversity.”
In response, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “The NHS has been clear GP practices must provide face-to-face appointments, alongside remote consultations, and over half of all appointments in July were face-to-face.
“We are investing £270m to expand GP capacity, on top of providing £1.5bn to the sector until 2023/24 to deliver world-class care to patients.”
We ask that you please pause just to consider whether you really do need to speak to a GP Dr Rebecca Locke