‘Hissy fits’ and blatant bullying: Sajid Javid vs. the GPs
93% of GPs in England see the health secretary’s plans to encourage face-to-face appointments as unacceptable
“Last week, a receptionist saved a patient’s life,” said Dr Berenice Langdon in The Independent. She gave him an immediate face-to-face appointment at my surgery: “I saw him and sent him to A&E urgently (any doctor would have done the same).” He was operated on later that day and survived.
The story makes an obvious point: “proper doctoring involves an examination”. Telephone consultations “are not as good”. Doctors know it; patients know it. Before the pandemic, about 80% of GP appointments were face-to-face. During lockdown, demand dropped radically, which was a relief for “some very stressed and overworked GPs”. But now, the proportion is still somewhere below 60%. This needs to change if we’re going to do our jobs properly.
So it’s great news, said the Daily Mail, that the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, has thrown his weight behind the campaign for face-to-face appointments. Every patient in England, Javid says, should have the right to see their family doctor in person. He has offered a carrot–£250m in winter funding – and a stick: a threat to take over practices underperforming on this metric.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Predictably, GP leaders have thrown a “hissy fit”. As well they might, said The Guardian. With “breathtaking cynicism”, Javid has taken a Daily Mail campaign and made it government policy. Calling for an immediate return to pre-Covid ways of working – and an end to social distancing in waiting rooms–is “irresponsible while the pandemic is still with us”.
His plan for league tables, so that practices offering too many remote appointments can be named and shamed, is a clear case of “bullying”. It “beggars belief” that the Government is turning on family doctors to distract from its own “long-term policy failures”. The real problem is that GPs are leaving the profession faster than they can be replaced.
“I share patients’ frustration,” said Dr Nishma Manek in The Guardian. As a GP, “I want to see them”. But by and large, the “blended model” – with telephone triage and some phone appointments – works effectively. And the bottom line is that we have no choice. The profession is “running on empty”. In England, there are 2,222 patients for each GP, one of the worst rates in Europe, and it’s getting worse still: it was 1,923 in 2015. Campaigns like this only make patients angrier, and doctors’ working lives more difficult.
At any rate, it’s now war between Javid and the GPs, said Isabel Hardman in The Spectator. Ironically, the Health Secretary failed to turn up to his own face-to-face appointment last week at the Royal College of GPs’ annual conference. He sent Chris Whitty instead, who gave a lukewarm endorsement of the policy, but suggested the issue had “got rather more heat than it needs”.
The British Medical Association, meanwhile, says that 93% of GPs in England see Javid’s plans as unacceptable. “Everyone’s backs are now up, and that means a lengthy and noisy fight.”
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'A direct, protracted war with Israel is not something Iran is equipped to fight'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 17, 2024
Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - political anxiety, jury sorting hat, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Arid Gulf states hit with year's worth of rain
Speed Read The historic flooding in Dubai is tied to climate change
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel's war is America's, too
Opinion 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel' are just different slogans for the same hatred
By Mark Gimein Published
-
Less than total recall
Editor's Letter Why our brains want to forget the darkest days of the pandemic
By Theunis Bates Published
-
Black and Hispanic voters: why they’re turning right
Talking Point Polling indicates that the groups may no longer be Democratic Party strongholds
By The Week UK Published
-
The Garrick: unfit for the modern world?
Talking Point Founded in 1831, the club is composed solely of men
By The Week UK Published
-
Rachel Reeves: does she have a plan?
Talking Point Pundits have critiqued her statements as alternately too conservative and too extreme
By The Week UK Published
-
Putin's sham election
Opinion Protest votes show Russian dissent still simmers
By Susan Caskie Published
-
Vaughan Gething: a new leader for Wales
Talking point Former minister for the economy tasked with revitalising struggling country after being elected First Minister
By The Week UK Published
-
Olaf Scholz vs. Emmanuel Macron: an ancient animosity
Under the radar The German chancellor and French president's relationship has been productive, but Ukraine war has put it under strain
By The Week UK Published