Health
GPs warn face-to-face appointments plan could lead to exodus of doctors

GPs warn face-to-face appointments plan could lead to exodus of doctors
GP leaders have warned that giving patients guaranteed face-to-face appointments could lead to a crippling exodus of family doctors already exhausted by the pandemic and despairing of being “pilloried” by ministers.
The profession’s key bodies said the government’s plan to force them to see in person every patient who asks will exacerbate the already serious shortage of doctors, especially as the proposal includes “naming and shaming” surgeries that do not comply.
Opposition parties also rounded on the government’s blueprint for change, with the former Conservative health secretary Jeremy Hunt saying ministers were taking the wrong approach.
“This is a burnt-out workforce running on empty,” he said.
The increasingly bitter war of words between GPs and the government escalated further when Prof Martin Marshall, the chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), condemned ministers for implying that family doctors are lazy, despite working long hours and dealing with increasingly heavy and complex workloads.
“The last thing GPs are is lazy, and that goes for other members of our team as well,” Marshall told the Guardian.
“GPs have worked to their limits over the last 18 months, caring for patients in as safe a way as possible,” he added.
He also accused minsters of spreading dangerous myths that telephone or video appointments are inferior to in-person interactions. “The narrative being peddled that remote consultations are substandard to those delivered in person is dangerous. Face to face appointments will always be an essential part of general practice, but good and safe care can also be delivered remotely.”
The British Medical Association said Javid’s failure to push through major changes it suggested to reduce GPs’ workloads “will force many GPs to hang up their stethoscopes and leave the profession for the last time.”
Dr Richard Vautrey, the chair of the BMA’s GP committee, told the Guardian: “This new performance management messaging and potential public naming and shaming will do little to persuade wavering GPs to remain in the NHS, and the constant criticism will do nothing to persuade new recruits to choose general practice.
“After pulling out all the stops, working all hours to provide for patients over the last 20 months, delivering world class Covid and flu vaccination programmes, these latest insults will leave many asking why they bother.”
Javid’s plan, under which GPs in England will receive £250m extra funding if they agree to see more patients face-to-face, was criticised by Hunt, the health secretary from 2012-18.
He described the government’s proposals as a poorly thought-out “sticking plaster” that would not work.
The chronic and worsening lack of GPs meant the plan is doomed, Hunt said. “As someone who tried and failed to get 5,000 more GPs into the system, I don’t think this package will turn the tide,” he said. While he recruited more young doctors to train as GPs, that success was nullified by larger numbers of older family doctors going part-time or quitting altogether, he added.
Official workforce figures published by NHS Digital show that the number of full-time equivalent GPs in England has fallen from 29,403 in September 2015 to 28,023 – a fall of 1,380. However, the overall number of family doctors has risen over that same period from 36,120 to 38,792.
“This is a burnt-out workforce running on empty because of a massive mismatch between supply and demand. The only thing that will convince them not to continue retiring or opting for part-time hours in droves is a clear plan to end the unsustainable pressure they face,” added Hunt.
He said Javid should instead focus on a massive recruitment drive that would include persuading retired GPs who came back into the NHS during Covid to stay. Incentives to entice doctors from abroad, especially Canada and Australia, to come and work in Britain, are also needed.
The outpouring of anger from GPs that greeted Javid’s “GP rescue plan” led the health secretary to pull out of a scheduled appearance at the RCGP’s annual conference in Liverpool at the last minute.
The BMA accused him of “running scared of speaking to the profession face-to-face because he knows his plan is, in reality, no plan at all.”
Opposition parties voiced their fears of even more GPs quitting.
“There is now a real risk that GPs already burned out from working overtime during the pandemic will walk away from the profession in frustration at the government’s attitude towards them”, said Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson.
“We should not forget the sacrifices many GPs have made to keep us safe. It seems the government have a short memory on this.”
Labour’s shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said: “Within minutes Sajid Javid’s promise to guarantee face to face appointments with a doctor completely unravelled.
“By failing to put forward a proper solution there is now a real risk that more GPs could quit in frustration. No wonder the health secretary ran away from explaining himself face to face. Rather than picking fights he should deliver the 6,000 extra GPs he promised as Chancellor.”
Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical officer for England, struck a different tone to Javid when, addressing the RCGP gathering, he praised GPs as “outstanding”, adding: “I’m massively admiring of what you all have done, and continue to do, in the biggest public health challenge in our professional careers.”
After pulling out of the RCGP conference Javid did a round of broadcast interviews to defend his plan and then visited a GP surgery in south-east London where he lavished praise on family doctors.
Health
Kwara approves 100% consolidated health salary structure for nurses

The Kwara State government has approved and implemented a 100% Consolidated Health Salary Structure, (CONHESS) for nurses in the state.
Also, the state government has recruited about 63 nurses to fill the vacuum created by the brain drain in the country to improve the quality and standard of nursing care in line with the global best practices.
The Chairman and Secretary of the Kwara State Council of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Aminu Shehu and Markus Luka respectively, disclosed this in a statement in Ilorin made available to journalists.
The association appreciated the Executive Secretary of the state Hospital Management Bureau for playing a vital role in the struggle towards ensuring that its demands were met by the government.
The body also commended Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for the approval and implementation of the 100% CONHESS and the recruitment of more nurses to boost healthcare delivery in the state.
Health
More than 400 consultant anesthetists left Nigeria in 2yrs – Society

More than 400 consultant anesthetists left the shores of Nigeria for greener pastures in the last two years, President of the Nigerian Society of Anesthetists, Dr Olubusola Alagbe-Briggs said in Gombe on Wednesday.
Alagbe-Briggs told newsmen on the side-line of the society’s 31st annual scientific conference that the immigrant anesthetists left Nigeria in search of better practice environment.
She said anesthetists were the most sought-after specialists in foreign lands because of the peculiarity of their services.
“There is a global shortage of anesthetists because of the nature of the job which is intensive, acute and focused.
“We had about 1,200 members in the past, but today we have only 800 members.
“Those countries that are short of anesthetists are pulling those here in Nigeria to their countries.
“Nigerian professionals are the best. They are highly sought-after by other countries.
“Medical practitioners and other professionals will continue to emigrate until their welfare and available equipment are improved upon,’’ she said.
Alagbe-Briggs stressed that availability appropriate equipment and improved welfare were essential to improve medical practice and services.
She said the conference itself sought to ensure continuous enhancement of the knowledge of the society’s members to help to improve their services.
“We are looking at how we can help to improve on cancer care; we are involved in the operational stage, pain relief, emergency care and intensive care.
“We are in Gombe to brainstorm on how to improve our specialty in line with the theme of the conference, learn from one another and share research outcomes,’’ Alagbe-Briggs said.
The conference has: “Anesthesia and the pre-operative care of patients with cancers’’ as its theme.
Health
WHO Demands Fresh Data from China amid Outbreak of Pneumonia in Children

The World Health Organization (WHO) is requesting more data from China amid an outbreak of pneumonia in children.
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, said the agency was ‘following up with China’ as hospitals across the country continue to be overwhelmed.
Face masks and social distancing are again being recommended in the country.
The country is said to be grappling with a spike in pneumonia, dubbed ‘white lung syndrome’ because of the way lung damage shows up on scans, among children that has been attributed to a rebound in respiratory illnesses rather than an entirely new virus.
China had one of the most brutal and longest lockdowns of any country in the world which the WHO says robbed children of vital immunity against seasonal illnesses.
Dr Van Kerkhove told the conference today: ‘Yes, we are seeing an increase in respiratory infections around the world.
‘We’re in autumn and entering winter months, so we are expecting to see rises in respiratory infections regardless.
We are following up with China. They are seeing an increase due a number of different infections
We are following up with our clinical network and following up with clinicians in China.
‘In terms of acute respiratory infections, we are looking at the burden on healthcare systems and looking at the healthcare capacities of systems.’
It comes after Chinese Health Ministry spokesman Mi Feng urged people in the country to again consider wearing face masks and distancing.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, he said: ‘Efforts should be made to increase the opening of relevant clinics and treatment areas, extend service hours and increase the supply of medicines.
‘It is necessary to do a good job in epidemic prevention and control in key crowded places.
‘[This includes] in schools, childcare institutions and nursing homes, and to reduce the flow of people and visits.’
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