A letter from DAUK to the Health Secretary highlighting the critical state of general practice and calling for urgent Government action to save it has been signed by hundreds of GPs and patients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letter to Wes Streeting follows the imposition of a new GP contract variation from 1 October, and warns that the contract is a risk to patient safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has been signed by almost 600 GPs and patients, with more than 150 copies sent to individual constituency MPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The message in the letter is clear: \u201cIf general practice fails, the NHS fails. Don\u2019t let this happen on your watch.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new contract requirements demand that GP practices provide online access for patients with no corresponding investment, staffing, or infrastructure support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Ellen Welch, DAUK co-chair and a GP in Cumbria, said: \u201cEvery day, around 1.4 million people get appointments at GP practices compared with 67,000 attending A&E. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople are getting through, we just don\u2019t have enough capacity to see everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany practices are already operating beyond safe capacity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOpening up a new access route has simply created further demand that cannot be absorbed without more GPs and capacity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInstead, non-urgent consultations are being cancelled, staff are working late, and patients are waiting even longer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cClinicians are already under huge pressure and there\u2019s a danger they will be stretched to breaking point and practices just won\u2019t be able to cope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis hasn\u2019t been fully thought through and we urge the Health Secretary to think again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letter to Mr Streeting<\/a> calls for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It concludes with a stark warning: \u201cThis contract variation does not modernise general practice, it destabilises it. And once lost, the community-based model of family medicine that defines the NHS will not return.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The letter is the latest stage in a long-running campaign by DAUK\u2019s GP committee. The campaign which aims to address the disconnect between policymakers and the realities faced by GPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A copy of the book Why Can\u2019t I see My GP?<\/a>, written by Dr Welch, was sent to Mr Streeting, to every member of the Health Select Committee, and to all MPs who are doctors, following last year\u2019s General Election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why Can\u2019t I See My GP? highlights the crisis in general practice and offers some workable solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Steve Taylor, DAUK GP co-lead, said: \u201cGPs have been called laggards and refuseniks for raising concerns about the new contract, our working conditions, and ultimately patient safety and satisfaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re anything but laggards and refuseniks, and are providing 20% more appointments than a decade ago with fewer GPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut hundreds of GPs have signed our letter to say it can\u2019t go on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDAUK\u2019s GP committee has decades of experience and has put together workable solutions which we have shared with politicians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re here and ready to work with Mr Streeting and his team to solve the issues facing general practice.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Read the letter to Mr Streeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DAUK GP committee is a group of volunteer GPs who advocate for general practitioners by addressing funding, workforce, and patient access and safety issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n GP committee members provide briefings for politicians and develop policy proposals for improving general practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Members regularly raise awareness in the media of the ongoing GP crisis while countering misinformation and incorrect narratives around general practice. Please support their work by joining DAUK<\/a> or donating to our GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A letter from DAUK to the Health Secretary highlighting the critical state of general practice and calling for urgent Government action to save it has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,59],"tags":[324,22,304,333,683,642],"class_list":["post-1448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dauk-news","category-general-practice","tag-dr-ellen-welch","tag-dr-steve-taylor","tag-gp-committee","tag-health-secretary","tag-wes-streeting","tag-whycantiseemygp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1820,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1448\/revisions\/1820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Why Can’t I See My GP?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Workable solutions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nDAUK GP committee<\/h3>\n\n\n\n