The GP lead for the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), Dr Toberty warned the two per cent annual contract uplift offered by NHS England was ‘not enough to sustain the services patients need’ and that practices will go under.

Dr Toberty said that if funding of general practice continued in the same way, ‘there will not be enough GPs left’.

Writing for Metro, Dr Toberty said she and her DAUK colleagues supported the collective action voted on this week by GPs and explained reasons behind it.

She said: “Historically GPs have just plugged gaps in care, working above and beyond their contracts for free. NHS England and the last Government were repeatedly warned this was not sustainable.

“But our calls were ignored and therefore – rather than closing our doors and striking – we are aiming to work in a safe way and take care of our patients properly, while also demonstrating to the system the sheer amount of unfunded work we have been doing.”

Postcode lottery

Dr Toberty added: “Without these recently voted-on actions, we are hurtling towards a two-tier model similar to dentistry, where it will be a postcode lottery whether an NHS GP will be available for you at all.

“Unfortunately, we already have practices handing back contracts and going bankrupt at an alarming rate. This chaotic shambles is a nightmare for patients and leaves them confused as to where to turn when unwell.

“As a mum, daughter, and a GP, I’m terrified there may not help available for us when we need it.”

Read Dr Toberty’s column in Metro.

Her colleague on DAUK’s GP committee, Dr Steve Taylor, spoke on national radio about the collective action, describing it as ‘fundamentally about patient care’.

During an interview on Times Radio Breakfast, Dr Taylor said that general practice had been underfunded for the past 10 to 15 years, that GPs were doing more work than ever for less pay, and that the vote was a signal that something needed to change.

He said: “Fundamentally this is about patient care.

“We as GPs want to provide care for patients.

“For the last 14 years we haven’t had enough funding to make practices work.”

Listen again to Dr Taylor’s interview on Times Radio Breakfast, starting at 1:51:15.

Dr Taylor, GP spokesperson for the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), said general practice had been underfunded for the past 10 to 15 years.

Speaking on national radio, he said that GPs were doing more work than ever for less pay and that the vote was a signal that something needed to change.

During an interview on Times Radio Breakfast, Dr Taylor said: “You have to see this (vote) in the context of a longer term problem.

“Over the last eight or nine years we have lost around 20 per cent funding, per pound per patient.

“We do understand the pressures that are there.

“All GPs are also patients. I’ve been number 35 in the queue to see my own GP.

“But effectively GPs have been providing a lot of extra activity over the last four or five years. They’re actually doing 20 per cent more work than they were in 2019.

“It’s probably the only area of the NHS that’s doing more than it was four or five years ago.”

In a ballot run by the British Medical Association (BMA), 98 per cent of GPs  voted in favour of taking collective action in protest at the previous government increasing their budget by only 1.9 per cent this year.

Industrial action

GP partners will choose what form of industrial action to take from a series of measures, including limiting patient contacts to a maximum of 25 people per GP per day.

Dr Taylor said: “Fundamentally this is about patient care.

“We as GPs want to provide care for patients.

“For the last 14 years we haven’t had enough funding to make practices work.”

Dr Taylor said the government was already making ‘positive sounds’ about funding for GP practices.

“GPs had a ballot at the beginning of the year where 99.3 per cent of GPs rejected the 1.9 per cent (funding increase),” he said.

“With that 1.9 per cent, the government are talking about 6 per cent in the coming year.

“And they announced they’re trying to release a pot of funding to employ GPs.

“So it’s not all negative.”

Patient care

Dr Taylor expanded on the ballot result and subsequent industrial action during an interview with John Pienaar on Times Radio Drive.

“The safe number of GP appointments has been considered for some time to be around 25 to 30,” Dr Taylor said.

“As a partner, I was doing 40 to 50 appointments a day. I nearly got burnt out by that and it’s one of the reasons I’m no longer a partner. I couldn’t do it anymore.

“Some of my younger colleagues are struggling with the amount of work.

“This will restrict the number of appointments available, but if those appointments are with a stressed out GP who is rushing between a patient then it’s probably not going to be as good as if you had a 15-minute appointment with a GP who is focused.

“We need to protect GPs at work and we need to protect patient care,” he added.

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