Time to listen to GPS’ complaints of stress
sir – As a recently retired hospital consultant whose wife is a GP, I take issue with J Meirion Thomas’s claim (Comment, December 19) that the stresses experienced by GPS are the same as those faced by consultants.
GPS work in relative isolation and without the support staff available to hospital consultants, who also have immediate access to diagnostic and other services that are not so readily available in general practice. In addition, the nature of clinical problems which may be a source of stress to a hospital consultant are quite different from those faced by a GP.
I agree that urgent consideration should be given to restructuring primary care in the NHS, but question how realistic it is to train nurses to be clinical specialists in general practice when there are barely enough to support existing services. With regard to these nurse specialists providing support for GPS in caring for patients with chronic conditions, Mr Thomas may be interested to learn that practice nurses already do this.
If radical reforms in primary care are to take place, they should be led by GPS who understand the sources of stress that are harming recruitment. Richard Nutton
Edinburgh
sir – I am a GP, and have contact with many trainees, some of whom are disillusioned by their administration workload. Every day, before a patient is even seen, there are hundreds of blood results to look at, with each abnormal one requiring further assessment, as well as medication reviews and hospital letters to act on.
It is time to separate primary care into urgent care, seeing patients on the same day for acute ailments, and chronic disease management and elderly care. This would enable more considered consultations for complex patients, and efficient and safe consultations for acute conditions. It would also reduce the burden on A&E departments.
Overlying all this is the crisis in social care. I hope the Government starts cross-party talks with the urgency that this problem requires. Dr Marion Latimer
St Helens, Lancashire