Dear Editor
This article appeared at the same time as the November issue of the BJGP (British Journal of General Practice), this month’s theme being continuity of care. The NHS central body has for years been pushing for bigger less personalised practices and many GP are now choosing and are financially able to work less than full time (this has been linked to the spiralling workforce challenge in the editors briefing).
Continuity of care is, I believe, better not just for ‘patients’ but also for learning and job satisfaction in being a family doctor. There is good evidence not just that people ‘want’ personalised care (politically important to keep the public happy) but that it has good evidence of improved care at less cost. The funding system for English GP is far from straightforward, but it has nearly always been the case that we as GPs have managed to find a way to do the work that earns a fee. Could somehow this lever work without any side effects and at the same time address the low moral of the workforce? Sadly the NHS primary care policymakers will probably keep pushing many other seemingly pointless new reforms ignoring the real problems though, as they can.
Re: Restore the doctor-patient relationship in primary care, say MPs