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General discussion / Northern GP crisis
« on: December 02, 2022, 09:48:55 AM »
I see another GP surgery in the north has handed in its contract. It will close unless a replacement GP can be found. That brings the total number of surgeries to at least 6 by my count in the last few months (Flax, Glen road, 2 in Ballymena, Trillick, Shantallow, there may be more im forgetting), with tens of thousands of people affected. This will then of course have a knock on effect for the surrounding surgeries who will have to take on these patients, compounding their own problems and stretching their resources.
My understanding is that its not a nice environment to work in. Growing waiting lists in the hospitals has led to people being managed by their GPs for years when they really should be under a consultant. This leads to a huge workload for the surgery and less time to deal with the day to day traditional GP stuff, leading to people being frustrated/angry and GPs getting fed up.
I cant remember the exact stat but a large percentage of GPs are over the age of 55. More and more young doctors choose to go into hospital instead. This is a ticking time bomb as GPs tend to retire before 65.
What do people think is the solution to this crisis? Do we have a recruitment problem?
My understanding is that its not a nice environment to work in. Growing waiting lists in the hospitals has led to people being managed by their GPs for years when they really should be under a consultant. This leads to a huge workload for the surgery and less time to deal with the day to day traditional GP stuff, leading to people being frustrated/angry and GPs getting fed up.
I cant remember the exact stat but a large percentage of GPs are over the age of 55. More and more young doctors choose to go into hospital instead. This is a ticking time bomb as GPs tend to retire before 65.
What do people think is the solution to this crisis? Do we have a recruitment problem?
