0ne in four GP’s fear practice closure but Merseyside may not need to worry
Wirral GP told us when it came to appointment access Merseyside is "one of the best places in the country"
Over a quarter of GP’s have said their practice was at risk of closing because of work pressures new survey shows.
GPs in Merseyside are telling us that without more government funding some practices may be forced to shut down.
The survey, carried out by The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), showed that 27% of 2,649 UK general practice staff surveyed by the RCGP between December and January said their practice was at risk of closing.
Dr Mark Fraser, a GP in Birkenhead, told us what he thought of the figures.
He said:“I'm not overly surprised by it because there's been a sort of perfect storm of pressures building up on general practice for several years now really.
“So, if we look at you know what general practice does these days, it's an awful lot broader than it's ever been before. We do a lot more things for a lot more people.
“Obviously, even prior to COVID, the NHS was under significant pressure at that time due to what we've known for a long time, an aging population with increasing health issues that need interventions, more interventions coming along that we can do, people living longer with conditions than ever before.”
Nine in 10 of the GPs polled said the reasons for possible closures included high workload and rising demand. Many also said they had concerns about staffing levels as more leave the sector.
Dr Fraser believes costs are also adding to pressures.
He said:”I don't know if most people know but the way a general practice runs is it gets almost like a block finance really, to do everything for that block and the amount of money that we get for per patient averages £136 pounds. That's to look after each patient on your list for a year.
“With more and more people needing more and more things, that doesn't stretch very far when you consider the cost of living rises that have affected everyone. A GP practice has energy bills like everybody else.
“So those costs have gone up, but the amount of funding coming into general practice hasn't gone up. So that's been, you know well that's that's not true. I don't want to lie, has gone up, but it hasn't really gone up commensurate with expenses. And so that puts general practice under pressure.”
Recent figures have shown the access on the Wirral was the best in Cheshire and Mersey and Cheshire and Mersey was one of the best places for accessing your GP in the country.
“I want to give a positive message really and that you're quite possibly in one of the best places in the country, if not the world for general practice and healthcare because we haven't got the same pressures on recruitment that other areas have on the Wirral.
“We have a really good medical school in Liverpool that produces a lot of medical graduates, an awful lot of whom stay in the Merseyside area, so that gives us a really big cohort of what I have to say. Our trainees that are coming through are absolutely fantastic. We get some really, really high quality graduates coming through and that go integer and general practice is still a relatively attractive option for a lot of people.”
NHS England have recently announced the roll out of a new GP contract which adds extra targets and requirements to improve the service for patients.
The government says the contract will ensure faster care for patients and will allow practices to employ more nurses.