Dear Editor,
Adrian O’Dowd commentated on the established collapse of the doctor-patient relationship in Primary Care. In this article, he makes a tenuous but unoriginal link; falling numbers of Full-Time equivalent GPs as the root of a demoralised profession and unhappy patients (1).
The term “Full-time equivalent GP” may be useful in workforce management but it continues to be problematic in the press. This language devalues less than full time GPs and shifts the blame away from gross underfunding, pointing the finger instead at individuals making informed and personal decisions about their work-life. In no other industry is an individual’s choice of working hours blamed for the failure of the service as a whole.
The profession may be demoralised and patients might be unhappy. More GPs may, indeed, be part of the solution. It seems far more likely to me, however, that a demoralised profession has led to burnout and compassion fatigue, prompting many GPs to reduce clinical hours, take up other non-patient facing roles, or leave the profession altogether (2). GPs aren’t responsible for the crisis; the crisis is responsible for the shortage of GPs.
Responsible management of workplace induced fatigue not only improves job satisfaction and efficiency of judgement, but improves learning capacity (3). It also allows GPs to take on other roles, such as those in education, as members of charities, and participate in research. The value of a GP to the NHS is not measured in sessions per week. Furthermore, GPs should not be interrogated or have to justify their personal choices.
The doctor-patient relationship must be restored, but using language which blames reduced clinical hours for the collapse of primary care is not part of the solution.
O’Dowd A. Restore the doctor-patient relationship in primary care, say MPs BMJ 2022; 379 :o2521 doi:10.1136/bmj.o2521
Hamilton S, Tran V, Jamieson J. Compassion fatigue in emergency medicine: The cost of caring. Emergency Medicine Australasia [Internet]. 2016 [cited 5 July 2022];28(1):100-103. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1742-6723.12533
Morrow G, Burford B, Carter M, et al. Have restricted working hours reduced junior doctors’ experience of fatigue? A focus group and telephone interview study BMJ Open 2014;4:e004222. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004222
Stop referring to “Full-Time Equivalent GPs”