Pressure on GPs

SIR – I have been a full-time GP for 25 years and work in a practice where, for months, patients have been free to book directly to see their GP face to face. The waiting time to see me for a routine appointment is currently a little longer than I would like, but is nonetheless a not-too-unreasonable seven working days.

Despite this, last Monday, in addition to the 30 urgent requests for medical attention that were dealt with by other GP partners (alongside their routine appointments), a further 57 requests were received by the practice and passed to the duty doctor. Needless to say no lunch break was taken. The afternoon was a little quieter, with just 42 more urgent requests for medical attention being received by the practice before it eventually closed at 6.30pm. Of these, 26 were allocated to the duty doctor.

Fortunately I work in a supportive practice team and we all help each other as much as we can. As a result, the duty doctor was not left to cope with this massive workload alone. Even so, as well as dealing with countless blood results, repeat prescription requests and hospital letters (which themselves generated a further eight telephone contacts with patients), the doctor still dealt with 56 urgent medical problems personally, which included seeing 26 people face to face. It was a 12-hour day.

This unsatisfactory way of working is, sadly, not unusual. Nor is it safe. General practice is working harder now than it has at any other point in my career, and it is not surprising that staff morale is low. This sorry state of affairs isn’t helped by suggestions that it is GPs who are to blame for the difficulties that patients are experiencing getting the care they require.

Dr Peter Aird

Wellington, Somerset