'315,000 people without safe GP service in Leicestershire & Rutland', says health bosses
There's now just 41 GPs per 100,000 people in the region
One in four people in Leicestershire and Rutland are without access to a safe GP service, according to the Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Local Medical Committee (LLRLMC).
An LLRLMC report shows there are just 41 GPs per 100,000 people in the region, which is well below the amount needed to give a safe and efficient service to all patients.
'I don't want my children to work in healthcare'
Dr Adam Crowther, from Oakham Medical Practice, says conditions in general practice have become so difficult that he'd advise his kids against working in healthcare:
'I do more than 37.5 hours a week at my practice, and yet I still have to work at weekends, in excess in the evenings and mornings. What should be a ten hour day transpires often into a 14 hour day.'
'I have two young children, I sadly don't get to spend as much time with them as I'd like. Would I encourage them to get into a healthcare profession? Absolutely not, for their own wellbeing. I think that's a sad indictment of our current situation.'
He added: '50% of my flatmates at university no longer work in the UK as doctors, because the terms of working here are so undesirable. I think it's sad.'
'We're in a crisis'
Chair of the Local Medical Committee, Dr Grant Ingrams said:
'I am proud of my general practice colleagues who provide a high-quality service to patients despite the impossible task they are given to do. GP colleagues continue to go the extra mile providing an increased number of general practice appointments despite fewer and fewer GPs.'
'Due to a decade of disinvestment, poor Government policies, and being inappropriately pilloried by parts of the media, general practice in LLR is in a crisis.'
A Government spokesperson said: “There are 400 more doctors in general practice compared to a year ago - and more than 2,000 more than before the pandemic - we are delivering almost 120,000 extra appointments every working day and will shortly be setting out our primary care recovery plan and long term workforce plan to support the sector even further.”