#PrimaryCareNeverClosed
Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) is a professional association for UK doctors and medical students. As a grassroots campaigning group led entirely by frontline doctors actively working in the UK, we are uniquely placed to be the voice of frontline doctors. Our national campaigns have reached international audiences and we have delivered significant policy change. Our notable prominent campaigns have been #ScrapTheCap for Tier 2 visa caps, Learn Not Blame, #CompassionateCulture and #ProtectTheFrontline.
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ere at the Doctors’ Association UK, we have become increasingly concerned about the growing narrative in the media that primary care is closed and not seeing patients. This view was further cemented by an article reporting that NHS England was “ordering GPs to see patients face to face” following a leak to the press. As anyone who works in general practice knows, the reality is more complex. In March, GPs completely changed their way of working overnight. They are working flat out to try to provide remote consultations wherever possible in order to prevent waiting rooms becoming areas of COVID transmission and avoid becoming vectors for the disease themselves. As more appointments are happening remotely, there seems to be a growing narrative insinuating that GPs are not working or are refusing to see patients face to face.
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Medicine is an art, not a science, and that doesn’t change in pandemic times.
Subsequently, there seems to be a disconnect between patients’ expectations and what care can realistically be provided during a pandemic. Conversely, we are very worried that some of this negative press will discourage patients who need to see us from coming forward. It is vitally important that patients are able to see us in a timely manner, either remotely or, where indicated, face to face. www.bluestreamacademy.com
There is a danger to patient safety and, we think, a significant contributory factor to additional GP stress. We want to try to turn the tide on this story, so we have taken two major steps. First, on 17 September we penned a letter to Dr Nikita Kanani, Director of Primary Care at NHS England, which was signed by almost 1400 doctors and primary care staff. This led to the newly formed DAUK GP Committee’s first meeting with NHS England, where we were able to put across our view of how damaging this has been. While our concerns were acknowledged, we are still awaiting their formal response. Our second step was to launch a nationwide campaign, #PrimaryCareNeverClosed. We are encouraging GP practices to post to social media with their name, their role and something about their day. Maybe they could also state the number of interactions or the types of problems they have seen that day. We’re inviting them to tag us by using the @theDA_UK handle on Twitter. Our hope is to start to turn the tide, for our patients to know they can come forward with worrying symptoms and for primary care staff to feel validated in the vitally important job they do. For press queries, please contact us on: press@dauk.org
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