DAUK\u2019s Dr Steve Taylor says a vote by GPs to stage collective action was \u2018fundamentally about patient care\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Taylor, GP spokesperson for the Doctors\u2019 Association UK (DAUK), said general practice had been underfunded for the past 10 to 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During an interview on Times Radio Breakfast, Dr Taylor said: \u201cYou have to see this (vote) in the context of a longer term problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOver the last eight or nine years we have lost around 20 per cent funding, per pound per patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe do understand the pressures that are there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll GPs are also patients. I\u2019ve been number 35 in the queue to see my own GP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut effectively GPs have been providing a lot of extra activity over the last four or five years. They\u2019re actually doing 20 per cent more work than they were in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably the only area of the NHS that\u2019s doing more than it was four or five years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Taylor said: \u201cFundamentally this is about patient care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe as GPs want to provide care for patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor the last 14 years we haven\u2019t had enough funding to make practices work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Taylor said the government was already making \u2018positive sounds\u2019 about funding for GP practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGPs had a ballot at the beginning of the year where 99.3 per cent of GPs rejected the 1.9 per cent (funding increase),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith that 1.9 per cent, the government are talking about 6 per cent in the coming year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd they announced they\u2019re trying to release a pot of funding to employ GPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s not all negative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Taylor expanded on the ballot result and subsequent industrial action during an interview with John Pienaar on Times Radio Drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe safe number of GP appointments has been considered for some time to be around 25 to 30,\u201d Dr Taylor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a partner, I was doing 40 to 50 appointments a day. I nearly got burnt out by that and it\u2019s one of the reasons I\u2019m no longer a partner. I couldn\u2019t do it anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome of my younger colleagues are struggling with the amount of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis 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\u2019s probably not going to be as good as if you had a 15-minute appointment with a GP who is focused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to protect GPs at work and we need to protect patient care,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n