| That GPs in England are angry is no secret. They feel underpaid, undervalued, increasingly overworked, insecure in their future. As a result, many cut down their hours, take part-time contracts, change jobs or leave the country entirely for places such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates, all of which are largely English speaking and where salaries are much higher and job pressures are much lower. HAFSON ONLINE PUBLIC MEETING WE NEED OUR GPs – OUR GPs NEED OUR SUPPORT Tuesday 24th February – 6.30-8.00pm On Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87096836297 Speaker: Dr Steve Taylor from DAUK (Doctors Association UK) – experienced GP who says who says “2026 could be the year to ‘Bring back the family Doctor’ @wesstreeting” There is an enormous and growing pressure on primary care, including GP services, in the UK. WHY? Primary care is woefully underfunded with investment lagging behind ever-increasing demand for services: Less than 10% of the NHS budget goes to primary care despite it being the first port of call when we feel unwell GPs offer more than 30 million appointments each year – more than ever before – without any matching rise in funding. We have chronic GP workforce shortage. Inadequate funding and structural barriers have led to a fall in full time qualified GPs with detailed workforce projections from mainstream thinktanks forecasting a 1 in 4 vacancy rate by the end of this decade. Yet, ironically, despite the difficulties many of us face in getting a GP appointment, many qualified GPs and trainee doctors cannot find work. Practices have not been given the funding to take on the GP staff they need! In London, the number of advertised GP jobs has fallen by 60% in the last 3 years. See: GPs trained but unable to find work: Why the NHS funding crisis is causing GP unemployment – The Lowdown Money does come from governments from time to time, but what is needed is long-term investment to stabilise and grow GP numbers and expand primary care. Unrelenting pressure. As the population grows, demands for GP services also grow. We have an aging population, often suffering from a number of conditions which take time to deal with as well as a very large population living in poverty who have very particular health needs. GPs spend a huge among of time tending to the needs of these cohorts. GP lists are rising, particularly in London – 2,540 patients per GP full-time equivalent – more than twice the recommended safe target! This makes it almost impossible for individual GPs to guarantee continuity of care for any one patient! And this is worse in poorer areas – where the need is greater. Technology – help and hindrance. GPs are happy to use the most up to date technology to improve access, but recent target-driven access means they work longer days but have less time for face to face consultations with patients as they deal with new modes of contact – leading to burn out and shorter working hours. Patient satisfaction with GP services is falling in many surveys – but patients still have more than 90% satisfaction rates with their own GP. NOT JUST GPs … ALSO, RESIDENT DOCTORS ‘The Doctors’ Strike has been portrayed as about a greedy well-paid section of society asking for more. Firstly, there is no reason why they should be paid less a fifth less in real terms now than they were in 2008. More importantly for most people, any of whom are likely to need doctors at any time, there are less and less doctors being employed. A survey in 2025 showed that last year there were more than 30,000 doctors applying for just 10,000 specialty training places. In July, more than half of FY2 (foundation year 2) doctors had no job to go to the following month. In a country with an ageing population this does not make sense. A major reason for this is that until April 2025 money was only provided to GP surgeries to fund non-doctor roles. Since April, the new GP contract has addressed some of these concerns, allowing resources to be more flexible. However, significant issues remain as GPs must oversee and train many of the non-doctor roles, which adds to the workload without funding additional supervision time. Many practices lack the physical space to accommodate more staff, and so cannot now revive doctor numbers. The doctors have won some concessions, but remain victims of continuing underfunding of the NHS, as indeed we all are.’ As you know, resident doctors – once known as junior doctors – have been on strike several times recently because of deteriorating working conditions, high training fees, but fundamentally because of steadily declining pay as the chart above demonstrates. The pay decline started under the previous Tory Government, but has continued under the current Government. The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, awarded a significant pay rise to resident doctors a year ago but this did not come near to meeting their traditional pay level. This year he offered a basic inflation-rate payrise. When doctors refused to accept this, the Health Secretary became very aggressive in public calling resident doctors ‘moaning minnies’, ‘juvenile delinquents’, described their strikes as ‘irresponsible’, ‘self-indulgent’ and ‘dangerous to patient safety’. He then refused to engage in any meaningful way with the doctors’ union. However, in the face of doctors’ resolve, Wes Streeting has backed off, returned to the negotiating table, made a somewhat improved pay offer. Why could he not have done this last October? |
