FAMILY doctors in England took industrial action for the first time in more than 60 years today amid a row over the new contract for services.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting vowed to build a “new relationship” with GPs after the British Medical Association (BMA) announced the immediate work-to-rule action and began capping the number of patients they are willing to see.
The BMA is encouraging surgeries to choose from a list of 10 actions after 98.3 per cent of more than 8,500 GPs backed collective action in a ballot.
It has told its members they can limit appointments to 25 a day – some GPs see more than 40 at times.
Other options include choosing to not perform work they are not formally contracted to do, refusing to share patient data unless it is in the best interest of the patient, and referring patients directly to specialists rather than following NHS processes.
Practices could also potentially ignore “rationing” restrictions by “prescribing whatever is in the patient’s best interest.”
Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chairman of BMA’s GP committee for England (GPCE), said: “We had a huge response to this ballot, and the results are clear — GPs are at the end of their tether.
“This is an act of desperation. For too long, we’ve been unable to provide the care we want to.
“We are witnessing general practice being broken. The era of the family doctor has been wiped out by recent consecutive governments and our patients are suffering as a result.
“We understand that the new government has inherited a broken NHS, and we’ve had some positive conversations with the new health secretary about the situation in general practice.
“We hope this will give the new government time to consider our proposed solutions including fixing our contract once and for all.”
NHS England warned the action could cause significant disruption beyond just GP services.
Keep Our NHS public co-chairman Dr Tony O’Sullivan said: “Pressure on GPs is now intolerable. One in four knows of a colleague who has taken their life.
“Whilst funding has dropped well over 20 per cent over the last 20 years, the average GP list of patients has soared.
“The new government has made concessions but they are simply not enough to stop more closures, more loss of staff and more patient suffering.”
