The Liberal Democrats have been analysing the latest data from the NHS. It shows that there are 547 fewer GP practices in England compared with 2019 – during a period when patient numbers have been rising. Now some of those could be due to mergers of practices, but not all, because we also know that GP numbers have fallen as well.
In fact, there are now 850 fewer NHS GPs than four years ago. Remember that in the last election (in 2019) the Tories promised to recruit 6000 more GPs.
Rural communities suffer most from losing their medical centres. There are 206 villages where patients have a journey of more than 5 miles to see a doctor – this figures is up on previous years as well.
We all know that the NHS is in crisis – appalling ambulance waiting times, long waits for transfer from A&E to hospital beds, unnecessary waits for discharge, unprecedented waiting lists for hospital appointments and for surgery. On top of that there are huge pressures on GP practices, who are the first point of contact for anyone with a medical worry. It seems that over the last year 29% of UK adults have tried and failed to get a GP appointment.
There is clearly widespread anger and anxiety, although most people realise that none of this is the fault of the medical professionals.
Our simple policies of recruiting 8000 more GPs, and giving patients a legal right to see a GP within seven days, will go some way towards addressing the problems.
Lib Dems call for 8,000 GPs to be recruited to save "on-the-brink" local health serviceshttps://t.co/P2wz9bK35P
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 29, 2023
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
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14 Comments
From the government website:
“To become a GP you’ll need to complete:
– a degree recognised by the General Medical Council which takes 5 years
– a foundation course of general training which takes 2 years
– general practice specialist training which takes 3 years”
Also, there are only 7,500 doctor training places in the UK.
So, assuming all potential doctor trainees pass at all points and want to be GPs, then an additional 7,500 could conceivably be recruited in 2033 and the remaining 500 in 2034.
I don’t think it’s been thought through. Nice slogans, though.
The shortage of GPs was predicted some years back and has the same root causes as the shortage of HGV drivers and other professions; namely, an aging workforce and a lack of investment in training over many decades.
Obviously, this lack of investment has been Conservative policy for decades and is probably also part of the economic mumbo jumbo that forms Conservative Party dogma. I therefore hope those preparing libdem material dig a little deeper and use this history of failure to invest against the Conservatives…
Brexit has effectively made the UK unattractive to foreign workers (with the level of skills we require) so don’t expect to be able to repeat the 1960s and import thousands of European and/or Asian doctors. We need to get used to doing more with less, as this will be the normal for the next few decades…
I’m afraid the heading led me to believe that I would read an answer to the question ‘why is health the theme for the launch of a local election campaign?’. I understand that health is a pressing issue, as are a host of other national and international issues, but for a local election I would expect the issue of reforming the delivery of council services etc to be the main thrust. Have Liberal Democrats nothing to say on this point or does it attract more support to discuss issues over which local government has no control?
@ Jenny Barnes. As you so correctly point out, Jenny, it takes up to ten years to ‘produce’ a fully trained G.P.
Given that is the case, and we know who was sharing power ten years ago in 2013 (indeed, with a Minister in the Department of Health) ….. it’s all a bit late and disingenuous to imply, “It wasn’t me, Sir, it was a big boy wot dun it”.
@Jenny Barnes, @David Raw – of course, we can’t produce new doctors instantly (although the Tories did promise 6000 more in 2019). But then, thanks to the Brexiteers the UK has lost a large number of highly qualified medical staff who went back to their EU homes. And it doesn’t seem to occur to Braverman and Raab that people desperate to escape Afghanistan, Syria and other countries include many medics.
Mary – that doesn’t answer the question of why focus on GP shortage for a local eleciton campaign?
@ Mary, in which case a more muscular stance on the impact of Brexit by the Leadership would be advisable, Mary.
To answer the Question of why we are going for a National Issue to launch our Local Election Campaign –
a, this is a National launch
b, The National Media aren’t interested in Local Issues
If we had picked a Local Issue that was somehow relevant to all the Areas Voting in May then it would have got even less coverage.
No it’s also a local issue. Many of us use our local GPs and Hospitals, our local health services. I am lucky in that mine does see patients face-to-face and I can get a same day appointment in a busy inner city surgery but there are many people who can’t. Sometimes simple policies work best. Remember the 1p targeted tax for the NHS under Charles Kennedy. That worked well so would a commitment to increasing GP numbers in the current circumstances. The party stole a march on Labour as there was coverage of the Lib Dem local election campaign on this issue on LBC this morning.
Roland 29th Mar ’23 – 3:37pm:
The shortage of GPs was predicted some years back and has the same root causes as the shortage of HGV drivers and other professions; namely, an aging workforce and a lack of investment in training over many decades.
The main reason for the shortage of GPs is poor retention. In addition to leaving due to burnout, many GPs become part-time or take early retirement due to punitive pensions taxation…
‘Number of doctors retiring early trebles in England and Wales’ [June 2021]:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/23/number-of-doctors-retiring-early-trebles-in-england-and-wales
HGV driving became less attractive as the influx of cheap EU drivers suppressed wages. The EU imposed Driver CPC also caused many older drivers to leave the profession. There are large shortages of HGV drivers in many European countries.
Obviously, this lack of investment has been Conservative policy for decades…
For half of the last quarter-century there was a Labour government.
Roland 29th Mar ’23 – 3:37pm:
Brexit has effectively made the UK unattractive to foreign workers (with the level of skills we require)…
In the real world, skilled worker migration to the UK is at a record high…
‘Summary of latest statistics’ [February 2023]:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-december-2022/summary-of-latest-statistics
‘Brexit freedoms make UK a magnet for highly-skilled migrants, says OECD’ [March 2023]:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/03/09/brexit-freedoms-make-uk-magnet-highly-skilled-migrants-says/
Jeff,
If I remember the good old days correctly, EU citizens didn’t need visas to come and work in the UK, so the stats you choose to present are very slanted to the Brexit argument at best or probably more accurately described as deliberately misleading from so many viewpoints.
David
Since when has the national launch of the local elections campaign ever focused on delivery of council services?
That’s impossible. There are hundreds of different issues in different areas across the country. At LOCAL level, the issues in the local elections really are parochial. And the local debate is over those local issues.
The national campaign is rightly focused on nationwide issues with a local impact. Well done on the leadership for choosing something relevant to nearly everybody.
As for how to deal with GP shortage: yes, bring in migrant medics. The only way in the short-term. Long-term: substantial increase in funding for medical training.
All that Brexiteer rhetoric pre the climactic Referendum about Brexit cutting net migration; stopping 70 million Turks moving to Britain amongst others.
And we all knew all along that Britain is dependent on migrants, skilled and otherwise.