Dr Margaret Ikpoh on what solutions 2025 could bring for general practice
The first week back in the New Year brought with all it the usual news. The rise of winter viruses, practices bursting at the seams and overwhelmed hospital corridors. Now it seems that these winter pressures have become perennial and just keep rolling on into spring, summer and autumn.
‘Welcome back!’ shouted a receptionist on the morning of my first full week back, as I attempted a quick defrost on arrival. ‘Oh and by the way’, she added, ‘really sorry, but the radiator in your room is not working.’ Thankfully, I had invested in a Michelin Man-style coat over Crimbo which was swiftly donned and doffed in between patients. But as the day progressed, I was acutely humbled as it became apparent that for some of my patients they had to choose between heating or eating; they could simply not afford both.
The afternoon was a much-needed catch up session with GP registrars. As GP educators we are often the forgotten tribe of general practice – despite nurturing the next generation of primary care providers with wisdom, patience, and an indomitable spirit. Our work remains often unseen and poorly remunerated (my Sunday evenings are typically routinely spent swimming in e-portfolios). GP trainers face the highest burnout risk among all specialties, and our registrars do not fare any better, heightened no doubt by the challenges in securing employment after training.
If general practice is to stay alive in 2025, the Government needs to be truly responsive to the needs of the profession and focus on providing evidence-based solutions. The proposed uplift, if it comes to fruition, appears to be the biggest one we have had in recent years. But as we know, the devil will always be in the detail. We await these contractual changes with bated breath. But in real time, many practices continue with their daily struggles to meet the health needs of the communities they serve. Some still even face imminent closure.
So at this critical juncture, I am going to recommend that in 2025 we eliminate the proliferation of empty verbs such as ‘reform’, ‘renew’, ‘change’ etc etc that are often bandied about when we talk about improving general practice. Instead, I’m sending out an SOS to our government – a message in a bottle which reads ‘just do it!’
Until that point when a solution arrives, as general practice continues to run hot into winter, I’m off to buy myself a hat and some gloves.
Dr Margaret Ikpoh is a GP in Holderness, East Yorkshire. You can find her on X (formerly know as Twitter) @docmagsy
The £100k that the NSI changes are costing our practice equates to almost exactly this “uplift” you speak of. So how about we send more than a flipping message in a bottle and instead we just “don’t do it”.