Provision of Serices
Since I retired as a full GP Practice Manager in 2010, I believe that the face of general practice has changed quite dramatically. Whilst on a personal basis, I still find that the service I receive is still of a good standard, I rarely see the same GP consistently and I find that there is little continuity in my care. I would say that the same could be said about the local hospital services. Follow ups are scarce and direct contact with Departments looking after me are difficult to say the least with no email addresses to use. It’s all very well employing more clinical staff, and salaried GPs but there needs to be a continuity of care and a consistency of care. I for one am not convinced that triage is the way forward or being passed to a nurse, who may not be able to diagnose or prescribe. I do welcome access to my clinical records using a variety of ‘apps’ but would question why I end up checking whether my results are in and new medications, if needed have been prescribed. My other objection is the habit of shifting medications to over the counter drugs and being expected to pay for it.
It might be worth exploring what change has taken place in say the last 15 years and question whether it has been for the better.
There are now more female general practitioners than male GPs.
There are fewer GPs working full time.
Most GPs work a four day week or less.
There are more salaried GPs than Partners.
There are more long term GP Locums not replacing partners.
On the other hand
There are more Advanced Nurse Practitioners.
There are more Pharmacist working in general practice.
There is better access to physiotherapy and counselling service in Practices.
So, there are improvements, but in my view they need to be backed up by a strong team of Partners and Salaried GPs who actively manage the clinicians and the clinical services provided by a Practice. In my opinion it is not acceptable for one GP to take sole responsibility for a large practice with only the support of salaried or Locum doctors working parttime.
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