Unfortunately durhamjen, that link doesn't speak well for GPs.
At the Common’s meeting, Dr Gerada defended GPs, saying that the pressure on the emergency departments could be confronted “if we get delivery of primary care right, but we cannot do it with the current workload and workforce”.
People turn up at A&E because they can't be seen quickly enough by GPs - that can't be a satisfactory state of affairs.
“But no solution is achievable without major investment and support for general practice. GPs receive only 9% of the total NHS budget, despite carrying out 90% of all patient contact."
But isn't the bulk of their work 'minor' in comparison to what goes on in hospitals? How do the hours of current GPs compare with those of hospital doctors?
“GPs are already heaving under the pressure of ballooning workloads and working record hours in our surgeries.
Given that GPs used to cover out-of-hours care and offer Saturday morning surgeries plus home visits, how can it be 'working record hours in [their] surgeries'?
“Going back to 2004 when GPs were working unsustainably long hours, often to the detriment of their own health, is simply not an option. It is neither affordable, nor logistically feasible and there is no evidence to suggest that it will improve care for patients
Yet GPs managed it. I'm not saying they should work 7 days per week and never have a guaranteed night's sleep, that would be unthinkable but they worked in rotation and surely that could be implemented again.
Patient needs have changed and the challenges we face are different.
They don't say in what way 'patients needs have changed' or what the 'challenges [they] face are different' - surely ill people are just ill people as they have always been.
The article reads like one excuse after another to me - I could be misunderstanding it and if that is the case, I will happily accept being informed otherwise.
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