Message from the Partners regarding collective action
You may be aware from media coverage that the British Medical Association (BMA) has recently launched collective action among GP practices. The motto for the campaign is "Protect your patients, protect your GP practice".
This is NOT industrial action, and NOT about pay - it is to pressurise the government to invest more in General Practice and amend the GP contract so that we can employ enough doctors, nurses and staff to provide sufficient appointments and work safely.
The main action is to limit daily patient contacts per clinician to a recommended safe level of 25 per day. Once daily maximum capacity has been reached patients will be signposted to alternative services.
We have done our very best at Dapdune House Surgery to match capacity to demand. We exceed well above the recommended 25 contacts per day on a daily basis but this is unsustainable. We need to take action now so General Practice has a chance of survival.
This is not something we undertake lightly but we do support the nationwide and countywide campaign to improve funding in primary care so that surgeries can move forwards with sufficient staffing and capacity to provide the quality of care we all want for ourselves and all patients.
We hope that the issues will be resolved swiftly, and that general practice can have a brighter future as a result. Thank you for your ongoing support,
Dapdune House Surgery Partners
Published on 28 October 2024