Unbearable strain on GPs underlying cause of practice closures

News that three practices in Leicester were among more than 60 that closed nationwide in the last year is more evidence that GPs are under unbearable strain.

Chris Hewitt, chief executive of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Local Medical Committee, says the closures will put more pressure on GPs in remaining practices in the city to cope with a spiralling workload.

He was commenting on figures obtained via Freedom of Information requests showing 61 practices across the UK have closed since April last year.

“GP practices in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland are under pressure to increase patient numbers while tackling an already overstretched workload,” said Dr Hewitt. “The pressure is forcing GPs to leave the profession and take early retirement, leading to practice closures. That in turn forces patients to find GP services elsewhere with a further increase in demand for appointments at the practices that are left.”

He said rising demand from an ageing and longer-lived population was compounded by requirements on practices for public health data collection and screening.

Data held by Health Education East Midlands and revealed by the LMC shows that the East Midlands have the lowest number of GPs per person in the UK – one per 1,850 people – and the ratio is worsening.

Dr Hewitt said: “Many GP partners and salaried GPs in our area often work 12 to 14 hours a day dealing with 50 to 70 patients. Each appointment now takes between 12 and 15 minutes – lengthened by managing complex conditions that were previously dealt with by hospitals and entering data required by the NHS for performance monitoring.”

He said: “Our GPs cannot continue to work at this intensity. Unsurprisingly, many are reducing their working commitments or emigrating while medical students seek employment in other services where the stresses are not so great. It is a tragedy because people who work in general practice want to make a difference. The frustrations for practice staff of working in an unsustainable, over managed system are immense. The work is stressful and unrewarding, and patients feel the frustration too with long wait times for appointments. We must find a way to improve general practice and make it a desirable profession again or face further practice closures.”