Insurance Versus Health Care – One does not guarantee the other

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) will pay for all medical services. If you can find a doctor to treat you, that is. Royal College of GPs warn profession could reach ‘breaking point’ | Society | The Guardian

The number of doctors in General Practice is low and going down. While the government is getting a slightly larger number of new doctors in to general practice, it isn’t keeping up with attrition.

The RCGP’s [the Royal College of GPs] annual report on plans to improve GP services in England raises concern that many doctors are yet to observe significant changes in GP numbers under the recruitment drive, with GP numbers having fallen since September 2016.

A survey of GPs for the report found that 39% think they are unlikely to be working in the profession in England in five years’ time.

What is pushing all these doctors to consider leaving medicine? Working conditions. (They all essentially work for the government under NHS.)

“Above all else we need to see efforts stepped up to keep hard-working, experienced GPs in the profession, and the best way to do this is to tackle workload pressures and improve the conditions under which all GPs and our teams are working,” [Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the RCGP, said.]

Long hours. Short times with patients. The kind of thing bean-counters try to control the minute the .gov takes over anything. Not the environment that doctors want – or apparently can stand for the long-haul.

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