Doctors in Unite members are physicians, including GPs, who are choosing to join a Labour affiliated trade union. We strongly support any Government effort to return the NHS to its founding principles. Years of cuts in the name of austerity have only weakened our health service.

 

I represent these GPs to GPCE, and have heard the arguments from all sides of this debate. I continue to work as a GP in a busy London surgery. I am no laggard. I am extremely concerned.

 

A system that can identify a potentially unlimited number of very serious health problems, hidden in a pile of other routine electronic consultation requests, and safely triage these, would involve the diversion of time and resources to such an extent that all other GP work would need to be put on hold. One workable solution would be to create waiting lists for routine GP appointments, something no doctor or patient wants to see.

 

The other would be to recognise the futility of forcing such an unworkable idea on GPs who, like me, are working at maximum capacity.

 

In my surgery yesterday I saw or spoke with over 40 patients, and made extremely consequential decisions with them about their health. This took time. The nuance involved, the picking up of subtle cues that reflect serious illness, is not something that can be done quickly - at least, not safely.

 

I urge you to reflect on other shortcuts taken by the DHSC and NHSE in the past to try and quickly fix the NHS. They seldom work, cost a great deal, and can easily lead to patient harm.

 

Please do not let your legacy be a similar one.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Dr Tom Riddington

Doctors in Unite representative to GPCE

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Doctors in Unite are keen to find alternative approaches that solve this problem. We  agree with GPC England   chair Dr Katie Bramall when she states that "all is not lost - we still have time in the coming days for Government to meet us halfway. We will explore all options, but I’m sure our patients and the profession would rather we find a resolution in the coming days. We want to work with the Government in delivering an NHS that we know is safe."

You can read a summary of proposed solutions here.