Patient safety at risk from high workloads, GP leader warns

Patient safety is being compromised by high workloads in GP surgeries, a doctors’ leader has warned.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), said doctors were facing increasing demand and could not provide the care they want to.

The college published new data at the start of its annual primary care conference in Newport showing 73% of GPs believe patient safety is at risk due to workload pressures.

The poll of 2,316 GPs also found 58% do not have enough time to adequately assess and treat patients during appointments, while 57% say they do not have time to build the relationships with patients they need to deliver quality care.

In a conference speech to around 2,000 conference delegates, Prof Hawthorne will set out how more Government funding is needed for general practice.

She will say: “All around the country I meet GPs pushing themselves, day after day, to look after their patients in the face of ever-growing demand and an unsustainable lack of capacity.

“In our recent survey, 73% of members told us that patient safety is being compromised by workload pressures.

“Fewer than 30% said they had enough time during consultations to provide high quality patient care. And more than half reported that their own mental health had declined in the last year.

“It’s hard to find a GP who doesn’t feel they have to cut corners.”

The college’s survey also noted significant concern amongst GPs over the new neighbourhood health services proposed in the Government’s 10-year health plan.

The Government wants to shift more care away from hospitals and into the community, nearer to people’s homes.

While the RCGP supports moving care closer to home, it warned the plan will only work if GPs are involved in decisions and there is enough cash behind the move.

Some 68% of doctors polled said they were worried that there are not enough GPs to effectively deliver the new service, while they also expect an increase in workload.

Meanwhile, 65% reported concerns over a lack of clarity on funding allocation, the same percentage worried about lack of clarity over the role of GPs, and 57% were concerned about insufficient capacity and resources to deliver the plan.

Prof Hawthorne will say: “Our survey shows that many of you are worried about the neighbourhood health services proposed in the 10-year health plan – concerned about GP shortages, increased workload, unclear funding plans and the future of GP partnerships.

“I understand that apprehension completely. When your workload is like a river that never stops flowing, no matter how hard you work, no matter how many hours you put in, it is difficult to have the mental capacity even to think about long-term strategy.

“And many who do grapple with it say they are caught between hope and scepticism.

“They are hopeful because the aspirations in the 10-year health plan make sense. They are sceptical because they have heard similar hopes expressed before.”

Prof Hawthorne will add that “Government rhetoric has too often been about moving care out of hospital and into the community while the funding has gone in the opposite direction.”

She will say: “If GPs are to provide expanded services to patients as part of the new neighbourhood health service model, it’s a no-brainer that we will need many more family doctors.”

She will also say more effort is needed to keep existing GPs in the profession.

“It is such a waste to lose experienced GPs and I have been explaining this to Government for the last three years,” she will say.

“At least now I’m told they understand the issue, but I still haven’t seen enough movement to redress our retention crisis.”

The Department of Health has been contacted for comment.