GROBY SURGERY

AT THE LATE APRIL meeting of the Groby Surgery Patients Group Dr Chotai talked about vacancy for a lady doctor and the increasing difficulty in recruiting General Practitioners. This is a subject that has received extensive press coverage in May.

A survey of 11,000 GPs by Menlo Park, recruitment consultants within Primary Care, found that working in Primary Care is less attractive than prior to Covid-19 according to 87% of GPs. In addition, 72% of GPs also said that working in primary care throughout the pandemic has negatively impacted their mental health with the recent pressures the profession has been facing making it less appealing for clinicians. “GP-bashing media headlines, record demand for appointments, ‘name and shame’ league tables and lack of clear government support are all contributing factors to current low GP morale which has significantly increased the difficulty in recruiting GPs” the survey concluded. Although, in February 2020, the Government announced a drive to recruit an additional 6,000 GPs by 2024, it seems that there has actually been a reduction in the number of GPs. with 913 leaving primary care between September 2020 and September 2021. The Nursing Times reported earlier this year that the Chair of the General Practitioners’ Committee at the British Medical Association, Dr Farah Jameel, described the current demands on general practice as “simply not sustainable”. He said that GP appointment figures for December 2021were 20% higher than two years ago, adding that as well as vaccination rollout, surgeries continued to care for patients with Covid, and deliver the day-to-day care communities needed. “GPs and their teams are now also facing an extraordinary backlog of care – not only from patients with currently undiagnosed conditions, but also those currently waiting for hospital treatment who need GP support while they wait. These demands on general practice are simply not sustainable” The teams that support doctors are also under pressure. Michelle Heaney, a general practice sister working in a medical centre in Lichfield, told Nursing Times that she agreed with Dr Jameel that current working conditions were unsustainable. “The demand from patients has increased during the pandemic,” she said, “putting more pressure on the nurse team.” She added that the pace and stress of the work was often demoralising, and that it was leading to problems keeping nurses in the practice. One advanced nurse practitioner who has worked in GP surgeries in Lincolnshire, told Nursing Times that she recently left the NHS after 29 years, and that many colleagues wanted to do the same because they were “tired and demoralised.” She said that the pressures to catch up on the backlog of care and the additional work created by the pandemic were exacerbating the already existing problems of recruitment and retention of nurses in general practice. “General practice nursing staff have been as pivotal in responding to the pandemic as the rest of the health and social care workforce,” she added. She stressed that, to “ease these unrelenting pressures”, there must be a “fully-funded workforce plan” drawn up by the government.

Booster jabs

Over 75’s and those with compromised immune systems are being offered additional booster jabs which will hopefully help keep patients out of hospital even if they contract Covid. This was recommended, along with jabs for older residents in care homes, by the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation(JCVI). The JCVI has also advised that a further booster in the autumn of 2022 is likely to be advised for people who are at higher risk of severe Covid-19. Those booking online may soon see Glenfield Surgery as one of their options.

Primary Care Networks

GP practices work together with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in their local areas in groups of practices known as primary care networks (PCNs). Groby Surgery is now part of a PCN with just two other members – Glenfield Surgery and the Groby Road Medical Centre at the intersection of Groby Road, Fosse Road North and Blackbird Road. The core characteristics of a PCN include: • Practices working together and with other local health and care providers, around natural local communities that geographically make sense, to provide coordinated care through integrated teams • Providing care in different ways to match different people’s needs, • Focus on prevention and personalised care, supporting patients to make informed decisions • Use of data and technology to assess population health needs and health inequalities; support clinical decision making, and monitor performance and variation to inform continuous service improvement • Making best use of collective resources across practices and other local health and care providers to allow greater resilience, more sustainable workload and access to a larger range of professional groups. Norman Griffiths

For the Groby Surgery Patients Group

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