{"id":895,"date":"2021-09-07T17:07:40","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T16:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/bma-blasts-completely-unfair-newspaper-column-suggesting-gps-deserve-abuse-dr-shan-hussain-speaks-out-in-the-pulse\/"},"modified":"2021-09-07T17:07:40","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T16:07:40","slug":"bma-blasts-completely-unfair-newspaper-column-suggesting-gps-deserve-abuse-dr-shan-hussain-speaks-out-in-the-pulse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/bma-blasts-completely-unfair-newspaper-column-suggesting-gps-deserve-abuse-dr-shan-hussain-speaks-out-in-the-pulse\/","title":{"rendered":"BMA blasts \u2018completely unfair\u2019 newspaper column suggesting GPs deserve abuse – Dr Shan Hussain speaks out in The Pulse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The BMA has written to the Telegraph <\/em>in response to Allison Pearson\u2019s \u2018completely unfair\u2019 column, in which she said she is \u2018not surprised\u2019 GPs have received a torrent of abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BMA GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said in a letter<\/a> to the national newspaper that he read the column with \u2018despair and anger\u2019 and that it serves \u2018no good purpose\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Pearson\u2019s column<\/a>, titled \u2018GPs are improving their work-life balance while worsening the life-death balance of everyone else\u2019, was published in yesterday\u2019s Telegraph<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the comment piece, Ms Pearson refers to the BMA as \u2018shameless\u2019 and claims the pandemic has given the doctor\u2019s union \u2018an excuse to string out the crisis indefinitely for their own selfish ends\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Pearson said: \u2018How about the doctors\u2019 union tries being \u201ckind and considerate\u201d to patients by not insisting on strict Covid measures (more unnecessary by the day) which supposedly keep their members \u201csafe\u201d while jeopardising the health of the population.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BMA said in response that \u2018[t]here is nothing unnecessary about practical steps such as physical distancing, mask wearing and hand hygiene which keep patients and staff safe\u2019 and that a recent BMA survey<\/a> found the majority of the public support these steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We know that remote appointments are not perfect with everyone, and GPs themselves have their own frustrations with current processes,\u2019 it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BMA pointed out that since March 2020 \u2018there have been nearly 370 million patient appointments in England \u2013 200 million of which were in-person \u2013 at the same time as GPs and their teams moving heaven and earth to lead the Covid vaccination campaign\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Meanwhile, the number of patients per practice is 22% higher than it was six years ago, leading GPs to report working an average of 11-hour days. These are not figures that show a better work-life balance for the family doctor.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Vautrey added regarding the column: \u2018[S]uch constant undermining and chastising will push [GPs] further towards the door, leaving us with even fewer GPs and making it even more difficult for patients to get the treatment they need.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RCGP has also taken a stand against Ms Pearson\u2019s piece, with their response published in Friday\u2019s Telegraph<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Martin Marshall wrote: \u2018When are some elements of the media going to stop attacking GPs? GPs and patients are on the same side here, and we share our patients\u2019 frustrations when they can\u2019t get an appointment or face long waits trying to get through to the surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018General practice has been open throughout the pandemic and we have continued to see patients face to face where safe and appropriate, in line with government guidance on infection control. \u2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GPs responded on Twitter that they were doing everything they can and said they felt \u2018demoralised\u2019 and \u2018exhausted\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comes as a BMA survey found that more than half of GPs have faced verbal abuse from patients<\/a> or those accompanying them in the last month and one in five has been threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2020, GPs denounced comments made by Ms Pearson<\/a> that she \u2018heard a rumour that GP surgeries not reopening until March\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in December 2017,\u00a0the\u00a0Telegraph<\/em>\u00a0ran a story<\/a>\u00a0with the headline: \u2018Here is an idea to fix the NHS:\u00a0let\u2019s get rid of GPs<\/a>\u2019, which called for more digital services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The BMA has written to the Telegraph in response to Allison Pearson\u2019s \u2018completely unfair\u2019 column, in which she said she is \u2018not surprised\u2019 GPs have received a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[44,38,557,39,535,33,42],"class_list":["post-895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-practice","tag-covid-19","tag-dauk","tag-dauk-gp","tag-doctors-association-uk","tag-dr-shan-hussain","tag-press","tag-the-doctors-association-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895","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=895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}